Another absent "killer" charged

There is a very twisted law in Ohio that has allowed a bystander to be charged with murder, though the killing was done by a sheriff's deputy. That happened in Muskingum County early this year and I wrote about it February 9, 2007.

Even bank robbers, I said, deserve protection from runaway prosecutors, such as the one in that case who said, according to the news reporter, "a person who causes the death of another as a proximate result of committing a felony can be charged with murder."

As I said then, we have a very bad law if a murder charge can be brought against someone other than the triggerman.

A few days ago there was another news report from Gallipolis, Ohio that tells of a probation officer who jumped in the Ohio River in pursuit of a suspect/fugitive and drowned himself.

In the eyes of this incredible Ohio law, the man who fled is now charged with involuntary manslaughter because his actions put a public official at risk, according to the zealous Gallia County Prosecutor Jeff Adkins. The accused could get three to ten years imprisonment.

"Because of actions that put a public official at risk" is something invented by the Gestapo-like mentality. Think of the implications. Anyone of us might inadvertently "put a public official at risk."

The law is bad, dumb, unfair, and needs to be undone with all possible haste.