General How do criminal charges work?

[Koma]

“Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was indicted on one count of murder in the first degree, three counts of murder in the second degree and one count of arson after a woman was lit on fire and burned to death “

Curious why he was charged with three counts of murder in the second degree when there was one victim? Seen that in many other cases and always wondered. Now is your chance to enlighten me.

 

[NiteProwleR]

Are they going for the death penalty?

 

[Koma]

Are they going for the death penalty?

“Zapeta faces life without the possibility of parole on the murder in the first-degree charge, while second-degree murder carries 25 years to life, Gonzalez said.”

I heard the news anchors talking about the possibility of it moving from state court to federal. If it goes federal I **think** death penalty is on the table but I don’t know for sure.

 

[supersonic]

Not a chance he will face the death penalty. Besides, it will cost millions on appeals and to house him. If we truly had a just country he would have already been strung up on a nice tree in Central Park

 

[vad]

The degrees of murder very state to state.

It's not uncommon to charge numerous murder charges. If they cant meet the legal standard for first degree they may meet the standard for second and so on.

I'm guessing second degree murder there is broken up as separate classifications of the second. You see this with manslaughter for example you can have manslaughter with a vehicle specifically. If you know the state Google it and the statutes are usually easy to find.

 

[NiteProwleR]

possibility of it moving from state court to federal.

That would be a good start. I know death sentences cost more but its worth it.

 

[supersonic]

While way more graphic, this isn't all that different than the piece of shit career criminal illegal who randomly shot and killed the young woman on the San Francisco pier in 2015. Subversive judges and lawyers gave him time served and let him out in 2022

 

[kvr28]

So the DA is in charge of presenting to the grand jury, arresting officer will be called in to testify to the underlying probable cause for the charges. The DA's will stack charges because they are not sure what they can get the indictment for from a grand jury. They will then cherry pick what they feel will give the best chance of conviction. Just because he was indicted for all that doesn't mean that is what the trial will be about.

Grand jury's can be pretty wild, here they serve for 6 months, have to report once a month for one or two days and hear case after case. It's about 30 people just sitting in a room looking bored out of their minds listening to DA's and LEO.

 

[Hauler]

It's just charging someone with varying degrees of murder. So if Murder in the 1st doesn't stick, they can still try to nab him for Murder in the 2nd.
Ya dig?

 

[ManDingo]

It's just charging someone with varying degrees of murder. So if Murder in the 1st doesn't stick, they can still try to nab him for Murder in the 2nd.
Ya dig?

Yeah
Often they will charge a lesser degree to secure a conviction if they’re afraid there is a chance a greater charge can be beat.

 

[ManDingo]

“Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was indicted on one count of murder in the first degree, three counts of murder in the second degree and one count of arson after a woman was lit on fire and burned to death “

Curious why he was charged with three counts of murder in the second degree when there was one victim? Seen that in many other cases and always wondered. Now is your chance to enlighten me.

I’ve been charged with multiple counts of aggravated battery in a case because they charged me separately for punching and kicking lol

 

[Rambo John J]

I’ve been charged with multiple counts of aggravated battery in a case because they charged me separately for punching and kicking lol

Did you have to register them hands as WMDs?

 

[Mutant]

“Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was indicted on one count of murder in the first degree, three counts of murder in the second degree and one count of arson after a woman was lit on fire and burned to death “

Curious why he was charged with three counts of murder in the second degree when there was one victim? Seen that in many other cases and always wondered. Now is your chance to enlighten me.

That's that crap they did to Penny to try and get a murder sentence!

 

[kvr28]

That's that crap they did to Penny to try and get a murder sentence!

Yep, think they would have learned

 

[NiteProwleR]

I’ve been charged with multiple counts of aggravated battery in a case because they charged me separately for punching and kicking lol

Donkey punch, I get but what's a donkey kick?