User	Comment
Jody	posted 20-May-1999 1:04pm   I'm not sure. On the news I heard the girl had forgiven her mother, and if I were a juror in a case and I knew that, I might take that into consideration.
daver	posted 20-May-1999 1:04pm   Damn! I was about to make this very survey. If I did, I would have included an option for second degree murder as well. It seems unlikely that the shooting was premeditated. I suspect that even had Ms. Smith been killed outright, her mother would not face first degree murder charges. In any event, I don't think that the mother should be charged with any sort of murder; she should be charged with attempted murder. If a third party wished to bring suit against the mother for being the primary cause of her daughter's suicide, I would have no more than the usual qualms that I have when I hear of most lawsuits these days.
fooyun	posted 20-May-1999 1:36pm   These are two very sick individuals. Points for keeping the explanation neutral and unbiased, however, you should state more facts, including that Egan is in her nineties and she also tried to shoot Smith's boyfriend, Smith helped the prosecutors build up the murder charge against her own mother, Smith knew that by dying the murder charge would automatically become first-degree.
dpolicar	posted 20-May-1999 2:34pm   I'm reminded of a similar survey a while back wrt drunk drivers. I chose "yes" in this case, because one can make the argument that intentionally driving a person to suicide can be considered a form of murder, much like sneaking up behind them while they are standing near a cliff and going "Boo!" If the prosecution can make a case that Egan did that, they should charge her with it. The question here is motive and intent, and nothing I've read about the case seems to say much about that one way or the other. That said, I *don't* think she should be charged with murder on the argument that she shot Smith and then Smith died (the way she would have had Smith died on the operating table). Egan did not end Smith's life, Smith did. (Well, Lucerne Medical Center did, actually... but they did so as Smith's legal agents and under her direction.) I suspect, if she is charged with murder, it will be on the second argument rather than the first, which I'd consider unfortunate. I think what I want here is the category of "battery with a deadly weapon."
lara	posted 20-May-1999 6:57pm   first-degree, no. second-degree, yes.
fooyun	posted 20-May-1999 10:06pm   Big opps! Egan's 68 not in her nineties...I got her age and weight mixed up!
jettles	posted 20-May-1999 10:35pm   no, if the daughter had been brain dead(legally dead) but kept alive on a ventilator then i would say yes..... but no. attempted murder.
Frostbrand	posted 21-May-1999 1:09pm   I'm anti-death penalty, so naturally my answer is no, but on the other hand, Life In prison wouldn't be THAT long for this woman.
fooyun	posted 21-May-1999 5:19pm   Ironically, wouldn't jail be exactly like a nursing home?
they	posted 22-May-1999 11:51am   No, I don't think it was premeditated. The women was blind in one eye and was apparently upset. The mother didn't commit murder, she was possibly guilty of attempted murder, but it was the daughter's choice to die. What I found unbelievable was the fact that the govt. gave her the right to choose, when they are so intent on putting Kevorkian in prison.
mandy	posted 22-May-1999 2:00pm   I agree totally with they(again). What the woman did was NOT a vicious and premeditated act...she made it to 60 plus years old without taking anyone else out, she was purely reacting to what she thought was a threat to her life(being locked up and mistreated or ignored in a nursing home)so I believe shooting her daughter and her daughters boyfriend COULD be seen as self defense. If someone came to my house in the middle of the night and tried to drag me from the comfort of my home and lock me away with strangers in a place where "care" is usually not given properly and being that I was older and maybe a bit blind and confused I certainly think I might feel motivated to defend myself. She did not murder anyone. Her daughter Chose to end her own life.
eris	posted 24-May-1999 7:39pm   What drugs are those prosecutors on? It seems incredibly unlikely that they would be able to prove first-degree. Something about "premeditation" just doesn't describe this situation. And if I were the defense lawyers, I'd be arguing "self-defense".

 
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