An officer died of a heart attack while attacking Virgilio Aguilar Méndez; now Aguilar Méndez is facing murder charges.

  • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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    5 months ago

    It’s called “Felony Murder”. The New Yorker had a fantastic article about how bullshit the whole idea of “Felony Murder”.

    This shock was swiftly followed by another. As a result of the crash, which all parties agreed was unintentional, two men stood accused of murdering his father and a friend who was cycling with him. One of those charged, twenty-five-year-old Sadik Baxter, had never laid eyes on the victims. At the moment of impact, he had been miles away, in handcuffs.

    Recently, Ian spoke with me about the case while caring for his newborn daughter in Brooklyn; as we talked, he sometimes ran his hand down a thick beard he’d grown in homage to his dad. “It’s truly one of the cruellest ideas in the American legal system,” he said of felony murder. “And most people don’t even know it exists.”