Few details were available after, according to investigators, a 15-year-old boy shot his 10-year-old female sibling.
Troup County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to a home in the 1600 block of Bartley Road in LaGrange, Georgia regarding two juveniles, that were shot. Once deputies and other first responders arrived on scene, they found a 15-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl both suffering from gunshot wounds.
Emergency responders immediately transported both juveniles to local hospitals.
Criminal Investigations
Most criminal investigations conclude in a few minutes or drag on for months. Both kinds of investigations often involve procedural shortcuts.
Some of the most common misdemeanors, like drug possession and DUI, are single-witness cases. The arresting officer saw the whole thing. S/he found the drugs, usually during an impromptu search, or determined that the defendant as driving drunk, usually after a cursory, pseudo-scientific investigation.
In both cases, traffic stops usually start the investigations. The infraction could be a moving violation, like speeding, or a non-moving violation, like a dangling air freshener that obstructs the driver’s view.
The violation must be the basis for the stop. If Officer Alice pulls over Janet for speeding, even if she suspects that Janet is up to no good, that stop is probably legal. However, if Officer Alice suspects Janet is up to no good, follows her for a few blocks, and pulls her over when she commits a traffic violation, that stop is probably an illegal profiling detention.
As for impromptu searches, officers usually bully suspects until they consent. Courts usually give officers considerable leeway, but at some point, a Marietta criminal defense lawyer can successfully argue that the consent was coerced.
Pseudo-scientific DUI investigations usually center on field sobriety tests. Researchers have never confirmed or denied that physical tests, like walking a straight line, prove or disprove than an individual is intoxicated.
Incidentally, no one has ever adequately explained why the giant beer explodes when it hits a tree. That’s one of the great mysteries of life.
An assault investigation is a next-level investigation. This offense could be a misdemeanor (ordinary assault) or a felony (aggravated assault). Frequently, assaults are also single-witness cases. But the single witness is the alleged victim. Unlike police officers, alleged victims aren’t professional witnesses. So, a Marietta criminal defense lawyer has a good chance to discredit them.
Alleged victims in typical barroom fights were usually at least as intoxicated as the alleged assailants. Domestic assault victims sometimes exaggerate, or even fabricate, stories to gain leverage in a divorce or other family court proceeding.
Serious felony investigations, like murder and drug trafficking, are high-level investigations, at least in most cases. Law enforcement officers from several different agencies usually work for months to arrest suspected drug traffickers. Generally, a homicide investigation begins with a body and nothing else.
These investigations have lots of moving parts. Additionally, investigators often over-rely on confidential informants. Typically, these informants receive significant leniency in another matter or a large cash payment. Many people will say practically anything for love or money.
Levels of Homicide
Many offenses have multiple levels. We mentioned two of the three levels of assault. The other is ABC (assault by contact), which is basically a non-injury harmful or offensive touch, like shoving someone in line. Homicide is also a multi-level crime. All four levels are serious felonies.
- Capital Murder: The killing of certain public servants, like judges and police officers, is usually capital murder, a death penalty offense. Circumstances that indicate callous disregard for life, such as murdering someone for money or lying in wait for a victim, could elevate murder charges to capital murder.
- Murder: Malice is the key element in this offense. The defendant intends to attack and kill the victim, but there’s no element of premeditation or other aggravating circumstances. LWOP (life without parole) sentences are very common in these cases, even for juvenile defendants. If he survives and if the state can prove intent (as opposed to two kids playing with a gun), the 15-year-old in the above story would probably face murder charges.
- Voluntary Manslaughter: The defendant intends the conduct, but not the result (e.g. Bill pushes Ted, who falls down the stairs and dies). Voluntary manslaughter could also be a reckless killing (e.g. two kids playing with a gun that might or might not be loaded).
- Involuntary Manslaughter: The defendant doesn’t intend the conduct or the result. DUI or vehicular manslaughter is usually involuntary manslaughter, though it could be voluntary manslaughter in some cases, depending on the facts.
Lack of evidence is usually the best defense in homicide cases. The state must establish guilt beyond all reasonable doubt, and in most homicide cases, prosecutors only have at-the-scene eyewitness and scientific evidence, at best.
At-the-scene eyewitnesses usually pick defendants out of single-blind lineups. If the administering officer, but not the witness, knows the suspect’s identity, the administering officer usually gives the witness subtle clues. Double-blind lineups (neither the witness nor the officer knows the suspect’s identity) are much more reliable.
Lineup instructions matter as well. When Police Chief Wiggum asked Homer to identify the robber, Homer felt pressured to pick someone. He probably should have told Homer the Kwik-E-Mart armed robber might or might not be in that group.
Usually, except for fingerprints and ballistics, scientific evidence is basically science fiction evidence. A Marietta criminal defense lawyer must discredit such evidence, because it has an outsized effect on jurors who’ve watched too many episodes of CSI.
Partially because of these evidence issues, homicide charges are, surprisingly, among the easiest criminal cases to successfully resolve. Over-anxious prosecutors often come into play as well. Usually, the state files the most aggressive charges the facts could possibly support, even if the evidence is insufficient for a conviction.
We know it’s easier said than done, but don’t let extensive investigations or serious charges frighten you. For a free consultation with an experienced Marietta criminal defense lawyer, contact The Phillips Law Firm, LLC. We routinely handle matters in Cobb County and nearby jurisdictions.
