Monday, March 4, 2013

Murder vs. Killing in Self-Defense

I know I shouldn't have to tell you, but there is a difference between murder and killing in self-defense. And I know you know the difference too, but apparently, the reporters on CNN don't know the difference. In the coverage of two very high-profile cases, the Jodi Arias case and the Oscar Pistorius case, I have heard CNN reporters say again and again that the defendant claimed to have "murdered (him/her) in self-defense".

Now, obviously, you can't murder someone in self-defense. I mean, I guess if you were planning to murder them anyway, and they also planned to murder you, and they struck first, so you had to advance your schedule and kill them earlier than you planned, then it's possible to murder someone in self-defense, sort of, at least technically. But that's really not likely to happen, and it most certainly didn't happen in either of these current cases in the news. So, do the CNN reporters really not know the difference between murder and killing in self-defense? And if so, why are they allowed to report on such cases on television where everyone can see them and hear what they're so ignorantly saying? Or, is it possible that they're trying to tell everyone they think the defendants are guilty without being too obvious about it so as not to attract a libel suit?

But just for those who don't know the difference, murder is an intentional and wanton act of killing someone that is deemed illegal and immoral and stuff, killing in self-defense is legal and generally not something one wants to do, but only does to save one's own life, and accidentally or unintentionally killing someone is manslaughter, except where the government is trying to discourage certain reckless behaviors, such as drunk driving, etc. (But drunk driving isn't really murder by definition unless you kill someone intentionally by hitting them with your car, and you make sure you're drunk so you can use it as an excuse and claim it was a tragic accident.)

I hope we're all clear on this, because otherwise, you might look stupid on TV if you're reporting on a court case. And nobody wants that, I'm sure.