Ex-fugitive’s murder charge in Alabama jailer’s suicide...

[Tennesseer]

This is 'different'. Is this a stretch to charge him with murder?

Ex-fugitive’s murder charge in Alabama jailer’s suicide has attorneys scratching their heads

CNN - A murder charge in a … suicide? The latest development in the case of Casey White, a onetime fugitive charged with killing the jailer who helped him escape, is a first for many legal minds.

Aided by Lauderdale County assistant director of corrections Vicky White, 56, to whom he was not related, Casey White, 38, escaped in April, spurring an 11-day manhunt which ended in a May 9 car chase in Indiana. When police apprehended Casey White, they found Vicky White had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. She died later at a hospital, and the coroner ruled her death a suicide.

Yet on Monday, Casey White was served with an arrest warrant on a felony murder charge, the Lauderdale County, Alabama, district attorney’s office said. The indictment, according to court documents, alleged while committing the crime of first-degree escape, Casey White “caused the death of Vicky White.”

Casey White intends to plead not guilty at his arraignment, his legal team said.

When lawyers think of felony murder, they often think of a scenario in which, for example, a robber accidentally kills a bystander in a shootout with police, or perhaps a getaway driver kills a pedestrian during her or his escape.

Alabama’s code states first-degree escape is one of many precursors to felony murder if “in the course of and in furtherance of the crime that he or she is committing or attempting to commit, or in immediate flight therefrom, he or she, or another participant if there be any, causes the death of any person.”

‘I know of none’
Casey White’s five-person legal team – which includes two lawyers who have handled hundreds of murder cases in Alabama – has never encountered such a case, said Nick Lough, one of White’s attorneys.

“We believe this is the first time we’ve encountered this issue,” said co-counsel Marcus Helstowski.

They’re not the only ones. Richard Jaffe represented Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph, along with scores of other clients facing the death penalty in state and federal murder cases, 22 of which he ushered through trial. He’s never heard of a case like this one, he said.

“If we are zeroing in on suicide, I’ve never heard of that. I know of none,” he said.

Rest of article here: Ex-fugitive’s murder charge in Alabama jailer’s suicide has attorneys scratching their heads

[billisonboard]

I see it as a stretch.

[Tiny]

I'm guessing this is more about the repercussions this case will have than anything else. 

Is this a "religious" thing -  since suicide is frowned upon (the stigma to the person who died as well as their family)? -  Casey White's death isn't a suicide but a murder to make it more "acceptable"? 

Will it open the door for the families of suicides to bring charges against anyone who may seem to have a hand in a suicide's death? 
Will a parent or schoolmates or an ex-lover or a business/Mega Corp be charged with felony murder?   

[Tennesseer]

Jul 14, 2022 11:26:55 GMT -5 Tiny said:

I'm guessing this is more about the repercussions this case will have than anything else. 

Is this a "religious" thing -  since suicide is frowned upon (the stigma to the person who died as well as their family)? -  Casey White's death isn't a suicide but a murder to make it more "acceptable"? 

Will it open the door for the families of suicides to bring charges against anyone who may seem to have a hand in a suicide's death? 
Will a parent or schoolmates or an ex-lover or a business/Mega Corp be charged with felony murder?   

Michelle Carter, who encouraged boyfriend's suicide, released from jail early for good behavior

Michelle Carter, a Massachusetts woman convicted of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself in a high-profile texting-suicide case, was released from jail early for good behavior Thursday after serving 11 months.

Carter, 22, was escorted out of the Bristol County House of Corrections in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, around 9:30 a.m. by corrections employees holding a pair of plastic bags of clothes.

She was picked up by her parents and attorneys in a black Jeep while a swarm of reporters waited outside. A television station's helicopter followed the vehicle as it left the facility.

Carter's release came four months before the end of her 15-month jail sentence. She had been in jail since February after she was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter in the suicide of Conrad Roy III in 2014.

Carter, of Plainville, Massachusetts, was 17 at the time of Roy's death in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. She incessantly messaged him to kill himself, which he did by inhaling fumes in a generator he put inside a truck. Roy had attempted suicide multiple times and struggled with depression and mental illness.

Carter talked on the phone at length with Roy when he was parked at a Kmart lot where he died. She texted a friend that she told him to "get back in" the vehicle after he stepped out.

The Carter case reentered the spotlight last year when HBO released a two-part documentary titled "I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter."

Backed by Roy's mother, Lynn, Massachusetts state lawmakers are considering legislation dubbed "Conrad's Law" that would criminalize suicide coercion in the commonwealth.

Massachusetts is one of 10 states without laws that explicitly punish individuals who induce others to kill themselves. Rather than being subject to manslaughter, as Carter was, a person who intentionally "encourages or coerces" a suicide or suicide attempt would face a new specific criminal liability imposed under the bill.

Michelle Carter, who encouraged boyfriend's suicide, released from jail early for good behavior

In Carter's case there are text messages she sent to her boyfriend telling him to kill himself. In Casey White's case there is no record of any communication between him and Vicky White telling her to kill herself.