re: Man arrested and charges filed after Houston child killed playing ding dong ditch

I think negligent homicide against the parents is warranted.

The driver thought they were just going into the bank to cash a check, but they robbed the bank. He's still charged with the bank robbery as accessory.

Stop defending these parents. Are you related to them?

quote:

---

Kid got what he deserved Won't be bothering anyone anymore.

---

quote:

---

Neutral Underground

---

And actual fricking sociopath.

I’d say touch some grass and log off but you’re obviously way past that point Billy Badass.

quote:

---

You dont know the law regarding the bank example given. Also if a murder was committed inside the bank the driver gets charged with that as well.

---

Yes, the driver would be charged with murder IF he knew about the original felony to begin with.

quote:

---

Texas Penal Code:

ec. 7.02. CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR CONDUCT OF ANOTHER. (a) A person is criminally responsible for an offense committed by the conduct of another if:

(1) acting with the kind of culpability required for the offense, he causes or aids an innocent or nonresponsible person to engage in conduct prohibited by the definition of the offense;

(2) acting with intent to promote or assist the commission of the offense, he solicits, encourages, directs, aids, or attempts to aid the other person to commit the offense; or

(3) having a legal duty to prevent commission of the offense and acting with intent to promote or assist its commission, he fails to make a reasonable effort to prevent commission of the offense.

(b) If, in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy to commit one felony, another felony is committed by one of the conspirators, all conspirators are guilty of the felony actually committed, though having no intent to commit it, if the offense was committed in furtherance of the unlawful purpose and was one that should have been anticipated as a result of the carrying out of the conspiracy. In this subsection, "conspiracy" means an agreement between two or more persons to commit a felony.

---

quote:

---

How many times did they ring his doorbell. I highly doubt he got a gun for just one ring and ditch.

---

Reports say it was 3 times. Some reports say 3 knocks, some say 3 doorbell rings.

quote:

---

Parents are culpable and bare some responsibility. Charges of some type are appropriate.

---

Something involving neglect maybe. Something directly connected to their actions of not supervising their children. Not something connected to the actions of a complete stranger.

quote:

---

How many times did they ring his doorbell. I highly doubt he got a gun for just one ring and ditch.

---

I may be crazy here, but wouldn’t MORE frequent knocking, ringings, kickings, etc logically make it more clear that it was a bunch of retarded kids?

Nobody with any ill intentions is going to come back and forth multiple times and allow a home owner to prepare themselves or call the police.

You obviously can’t shoot kids knocking or kicking or pounding on your door regardless of how annoying they are.

Seems like he has even less of a leg to stand on if they had been doing it all night.

quote:

---

I already said that. Not much. Except for the kids get less sympathy. His legal liability remains almost exactly the same.

---

Yeah I don't know the Texas Castle Doctrine rules of engagement but once they were running away, where was the danger to self that the Castle Doctrine (most I'm aware of) requires. This guy is toast.

It starts with lack of parenting. An 11yo should not be out unsupervised at night. It's is dangerous to mess around someone's property at night. And shooting at doorbell ringers running away is stupid.

quote:

---

Parents are culpable and bare some responsibility. Charges of some type are appropriate.

---

You know why your entire attempt at an analogy fails?

Because unless their city had a curfew for minors the parents didn't commit any crime, didn't knowingly facilitate any crime (and you are 100% wrong about that concept...look up the words mens rea), and didn't conspire to commit any crime (that we know of...I suppose it's possible that they told the kid, 'Have a great time out there kicking doors, son,' but I doubt it).

The worst they are guilty of is poor judgement (and we don't even know if that's the case...the kid could have snuck out of the house for all we know).

This is just more internet Billy Badassery to insist that parents be charged with something, and it's frankly idiotic.

Assuming that the encounter happened even 60% of the way it was reported, assuming the parents didn't know about the kicking and running, the parents' contribution to this scenario represents a mild oversight. The lunatic who chased children down the street and shot them running away in the back represents an uber-over reaction. Nothing about the parents' actions rises to the level of any legal action. The child's actions may have (depending on how hard he kicked the door) risen to the level of civil action (pay for any damage), but the only player in this game whose actions rose to the level of criminal action is the gun toting moron.

The idiots saying stuff like, "Well the whole thing would never have happened if the kid wasn't allowed outside" lack the intelligence to consider anywhere near the nuance necessary to come to a reasonable conclusion on this matter. They fixate on the statement being "true," and ignore that it's also true that if the parents had never screwed each other the day the kid was conceived, it also never would have happened. There's a billion things that, had the parents done them differently, would have led to a completely different outcome.

That's not the point. The point is whether what the parents did rose to the level of criminal facilitation or negligence, not whether "it never would have happened," and the answer to that question is clearly no.

quote:

---

But I'm pretty sure even in Texas you lose on this one. Even if theoretically it would be possible for you to get off.

---

Would they take the home owner in for questioning immediately and possibly do a toxicology test to see alcohol or drugs were in his system. Seems like a positive tox screen would aggravate the charges.