The entire situation is weird. 5 perpetrators allegedly tortured him to death, the cops quickly figured out exactly who they were somehow, but they're not charged with 1st degree murder. makes me think the cops are telling a story to the public that isn't gonna hold up in key respects.
It sucks, but holding off on charges is common and prudent, imo.
Generally speaking, the system is just too flawed to convict on higher crime. Even if obvious.
The thing that gets me is that the punishment for kidnap/torture should be on par with felony murder.
Generally speaking you would think kidnapping and torture would be 1st degree murder, not 2nd. Since they're charging 2nd-degree murder it means that whatever happened doesn't fit neatly into the picture they are painting. Probably means they're charging "depraved indifference" murder, but...
There may be a weasel conflation going on here: "not ruled" vs "ruled not", i.e. there hasn't been a ruling and the cops and slimy NYT reporters are making it sound like there has.
A more accurate (professional) response from investigators like, "We have not determined that at this time," could have avoided any of this "journalistic editorializing."
Or journalists deferring to a "non-determination" standard of wording would help, too.
If you read the article, that is what the DA said. Asking people to not rush to conclusions, the articles wanted the click bait by rephrasing it more controversially
But also... pretty hard to see how something like this may not be a hate crime...
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I mean, it may not have instigated it. But if any one of them said a word during that month about their gender, it's a hate crime.
Until you have leverage over a witness, you couldn't conclude this.
It sucks, but holding off on charges is common and prudent, imo.
Generally speaking, the system is just too flawed to convict on higher crime. Even if obvious.
The thing that gets me is that the punishment for kidnap/torture should be on par with felony murder.
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING FUCK ??
I didn't read that carefully enough.
Or journalists deferring to a "non-determination" standard of wording would help, too.
But also... pretty hard to see how something like this may not be a hate crime...
If that's true, that's almost worse.
Either way, none of the people responsible should ever see daylight again.