Reply to Teen Driver Intentionally Hits Officer on 270

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]He was acquitted of attempted murder charges. [/quote]

I can almost see that. But I can't understand why he was squirted on first degree assault. If running the officer down and leaving him a double amputee isn't first degree assault, I don't know what is. [/quote]

He wasn't trying to kill him, just maim him. [/quote]

“What we’re angry about is that in this state, a 19 year old can turn a 4200 pound vehicle into a guided missile and on 10/18/23, he took that missile, endangered all residents in Montgomery County, Maryland and a public servant like Sgt. Pat Kepp made the decision that this needs to stop and what he got was a 4200 hundred pound missile aimed at him on 270," Francke said.

4200 pounds of car going at a high speed isn’t going to MAIM. It’s going to KILL.

This was the wrong call. Period. [/quote]

I wish the media had covered the trial. I would love to understand how a jury arrived at this decision. [/quote]

I can't speak to this case, but I was once a juror on a trial in Rockville where the prosecutors were awful and the public defender was absolutely amazing. Two people had the same unique criminal acts committed against them, and as jurors, we only convicted on the least serious charge -- just too many holes in the victims' testimony, strange presentation of evidence, and other issues. Quality of lawyering makes a huge difference. As jurors, we were actually very frustrated by the entire thing, and our deliberations ran for nearly three days trying to make sense of the mess of evidence that the prosecutors presented to us.[/quote]

Interesting. Thanks for this perspective. I know the prosecutor in this case and she's extremely good. I know there was mention of not being allowed to enter certain evidence that showed intent, though. I will say, as a lawyer, I still don't think there was enough to convict on attempted murder, even with the excluded evidence mentioned in the media.

But the lack of conviction on first degree assault is stunning. However, ideally our system exonerates people if the state cannot prove its case. The old adage says it's better to let 10 guilty men go free than to imprison one innocent man, and all that. So in that respect your jury and possibly this one, did the right thing. [/quote]

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