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Prosecutors seek 25 years in prison for deadly Kansas hoax
Federal prosecutors are seeking a 25-year prison sentence for a California man who made a hoax call that led police to fatally shoot a Kansas man following a dispute between online gamers.
[...] Barriss faces sentencing Friday in federal court in Wichita for making the false report resulting in a death. He has pleaded guilty to 51 charges related to fake calls and threats across the country.
The defense is seeking a 20-year prison sentence.
Sentencing is set for March 29.
Previously: Swatted: Police Kill Innocent Man in Kansas
Related: Gamers Use Police Hoax to Lash Out at Opponents
Swatter Just Prankster?
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Swatter Who Caused a Death in Kansas Likely Faces at Least 20 Years in Prison
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
-- Lord Acton
(Score: 4, Interesting) by NotSanguine on Saturday March 02 2019, @07:59PM (2 children)
Random losers may not order armed cops around (well, apparently they can, given how many swattings happen). However, there's quite a bit of precedent for charging someone with murder when someone dies during the commission of a felony [wikipedia.org] in the US. The concept of transferred intent/felony murder isn't new.
Given that it was certainly foreseeable that someone could be hurt or killed could also be construed as "assault with a deadly weapon" and/or "attempted murder."
That said, the ease with which swatting is done (at least in the US), and the likelihood of a violent confrontation, despite the lack of any emergency, points up the poor discipline and lack of professionalism under which many of these paramilitary (the police, that is) groups operate.
N.B.: IANAL
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by isostatic on Saturday March 02 2019, @08:33PM (1 child)
Maybe someone could order a swatting of the white house?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 03 2019, @12:37AM
I think the SS would win that round.
Sheeeit, now I'm thinking some nazi fuck coined that term with long term planning for the eventual coup. It seems pretty goddamn clear there is a significant group that has been salivating over the idea.