lenaitch
Senior Member
Perhaps not. While I am not familiar with US or Minnesota legal procedure, it has similar foundation to ours. If there is evidence and a reasonable prospect of conviction, a charge is appropriate. Whether or not you get a conviction is never guranteed, but it is possible to for a judge/jury to convict of a 'lesser included offence' such as, in their terms, 3rd degree homicide. You can charge high and convict low, but not the other way around. However, you can't charge too high (in this case, for example, 1st degree murder) because you run the risk of having the case tossed for abuse of process (i.e, there is absolutely no evidence to support the charge).
As far as Aiding and Abetting, if their law is anything like ours, it is not a distinct charge. It is a legal definition that makes you party to the substantive offence. There has to be evidence of, you know, aiding and abetting. Simply standing around with your thumb in your butt doesn't cut, although it could be argued that they failed to do something that was their duty to do. I haven't watched the videos that closely but some comment that some or all of the other police officers actually participated at least at some point. In that case, that would do it.
