The Spector of Simpson

Mark Evanier is planning on going on a tri-county killing spree if Phil Spector gets off because he figures that no celebrity can be convicted of murder in Los Angeles. So keep your doors locked. At least a 7-5 jury isn't as stupid as the one that let O.J. Simpson go after a matter of minutes of deliberation, but I do think the judge made a mistake about not giving instruction on lesser included charges such as manslaughter. I do believe that reckless disregard moves things from manslaughter to murder, but it's been almost 20 years since I took criminal law.

It may be that O.J. is finally getting his come-uppance over in Nevada. Len said that one of the victims of the alleged robbery has had a massive heart attack. He asked if the guy dies, does it append a murder charge. That would be a felony murder charge and I think it would require a causal connection between the robbery and the heart attack. It might certainly hold up in a civil damages trial as connected. We study a case in law school torts known as Pfaltzgraff--spelled something like that--which is all about causation and foreseeability, but there's also a matter of "the eggshell skull" which says you take your victim as you find them and too bad if you didn't know they had an eggshell skull and that pat on the head killed them, liability attaches.