The “drive over” is not even a 30 second drive. The house is at one end of the driveway, the barn at the other. We do not know if he was specifically driving there, or going to run an errand and saw them so stopped. There are too many unknowns to clearly say it shows intent.
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The costs of prosecuting cases, the time in going to court while dealing with a staggering case load, and the additional costs of incarceration are often motivators for the state to offer plea deals. It’s not so much about how solid their case is, but about reaching a resolution quickly and efficiently (especially if it saves taxpayer money).
Also, as to whether she would “have to” agree - I don’t think so. I think at best victims of crimes can make their feelings known and have input into this sort of decision but they do not have final say.
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Besides, showing that he intended to drive over ans confront her, even with a gun, is nowhere near showing that he intended to drive over and kill her. I think attempted manslaughter 2x is about as much as they can get. But I also think they will plea it down. Although I’m sure she would be happy if he got life w/o parole, I think LK will be far more interested in the civil suit that will follow - that’s where the real benefit to her will come in.
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It was also the house that he previously had been living in before recently moving to the barn, so could have been going to get clothes, paperwork or other personal items.
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BINGO!!!
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I’m amazed at the assumptions being made about the facts. We don’t know much. We know that LK sustained shots to the chest. We know that her boyfriend was injured. Was MB also injured? I don’t know. We know a gun was found at the scene. We know the police arrested MB and charged him with what, Attempted Murder? That’s all we know.
We don’t know how he arrived at the scene. LK says he drove up and shot her her while she was sitting on the porch. We know she said that, but is any part of it true?
We don’t know who owned the gun, who obtained it, how they obtained it, or who brought it to the scene.
We know the charges, but we don’t know the actual facts, and won’t know for a while. Did MB attempt to murder LK, or was he charged because LK and her boyfriend lied? I don’t know.
Did the struggle occur when the boyfriend attempted to disarm MB or did it start earlier? Did the shooting take place before, during or after the struggle? Who knows?
Finally, who shot LK? Was it MB or could it have been the boyfriend shooting her accidentally at some point during the struggle or altercation? If you say you know, how can you be sure?
I think it is premature to expect any kind of sentence or even a plea.
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She also says it happened after he enticed her off the porch and into the bushes.
He has been arrested. I do not think charges will be dropped so there will be a sentence/plea.
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In regards to RG being “injured” he was seen the day after the shooting at the farm banging on doors, waving his arms around and yelling. There was NOTHING on either of his arms. He did have it wrapped at the bail hearing, but was it just for show? My guess is yes. In a picture LK posted 3 weeks after the shooting, RG again had nothing on his arm, nor was there anything that looked like a scar. His “surgery” was supposed to be a few days after the shooting, so no way would it have been healed in 3 weeks.
MB was injured, HIS arm was broken, and is just now supposed to be getting unwrapped. There were also other injuries that he had.
So the “facts” that people think they know, may not be facts after all.
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Somewhere on FB, LK said no way would she agree to a plea deal. She wants MB to get a life sentence. If the prosector does offer a plea deal, would she start to harass him, threaten to ruin him, and make his life a living hell?
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In this type of criminal case, does the shooting victim have any rights to determine if a plea is accepted or not? or is it entirely up to the DA’s office?
In the civil case, I have no doubt she will demand a trial.
But she’s not a party in this trial. This is the State of New Jersey vs. MB, not LK vs. MB. She can make a victim immpact statement at sentencing, but she doesn’t have any say in what the charges the prosecution brings, or in anything at all. Prosecution may look to her as a witness, or for statements, and choose to use that or not, and very well possibly not rely on what she says, because she’s so squirrelly, and make their own conclusions and their own case, which may or may not be what she says happened, but She isn’t in charge of what the state of NJ will do or not do. If they don’t have good facts, they may not be able to prosecute. I am sure they are gathering the data they need, thinking they have a good case, but again, Its not LK’s case.
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For all we know, MB had the gun in his back belt, stopped to talk to LK, started arguing with her, and the boyfriend came out and grabbed the gun off of MB. MB then wrestles the gun from the boyfriend, and in so doing the boyfriend breaks MB’s arm, maybe shoots him by accident, and gets the gun, an now is backing up from being attacked by the two crazies, and instinctivley uses it. Thats entirely made up, but, we don’t know what happened, but he may have arrived with the gun but had no intention of using it until the situation escalated. We don’t know. And would I take LK at her word? Not in a million years. Sorry you got shot, LK. why it happened is yet to be determined as far as I am concerned.
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I went to court over a much lesser crime. I had $46K stolen from me in a home improvement fraud in Delaware, felony theft. Father and son (and entire extended family) scam artists. I spent all of one day sitting in court waiting for a trial. I’m good, I had no doubt that I would prevail in court. Prosecutor came out around 4:00. Said they reached a plea deal that would convict the son of felony theft but drop the charges against the father. I was livid. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
Different type of crime, different state, but what I found out is that if the state accepts the plea, the victim has zero say in the process.
BTW if anyone wants to know who to avoid for home improvement work in DE, MD, PA, or NJ feel free to shoot me a PM. I don’t want to break any rules or hijack this thread.
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I don’t think you can have attempted manslaughter as manslaughter is usually defined as a death caused by another which was not planned. If not planned, one cannot attempt it.
“Attempted voluntary manslaughter is where the defendant committed, obtained, or was negligently culpable in an act that would have killed the victim but someone stopped the death or the defendant’s actions failed to kill the victim.”
obviously, I was stating my opinion based on the evidence we have available, which I stated. Also, 30 seconds or 5 seconds, the minute the decision is made to kill can encourage the proof of intent. My opinion, again.
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It depends on what the prosecution can prove about him getting in the vehicle to head there with a gun, but again just my thoughts based on limited evidence we have available.
The good thing about civil court, is there a lot more freedom of evidence, so all the dirty details will come out in that trial if it were to happen.
It’s not her decision. It’s the D.A.'a decision.
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I was a victim of a violent assault, and at trial I sure as hell had a say in whether we accepted a plea. Maybe it depends on the prosecution. They will try and encourage you one way, but I said NO to one please and they carried on, then agreed to another. Not sure if it is different in NJ.
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