PA - Leon Katz, infant, murdered, and twin, injured by babysitter, Pittsburgh- June 24, 2024

[Mack the Knife]

I am honestly surprised that the charge is not manslaughter. I think they would be guaranteed a conviction on that vs. outright murder, especially if there are no cams.

And for the surviving baby, it seems like a case of he said/she said, so hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, imo.

Unless there's a lot more evidence in both cases.

Imo.

I don't particularly understand the legal machinations or how things work in each specific state, but it may be the case that prosecutors end up adding on lesser charges and letting the jury choose. Karen Read was charged with both manslaughter and second-degree murder. Nicolae Miu was charged with first degree intentional homicide but jurors were told to also consider lesser charges, and ultimately convicted of first degree reckless homicide.

Maybe they'll be able to prove that capital punishment is appropriate here, but I think it is a tactic, and one I find a bit unseemly. I'm not sure if there is a better term for it, but it is related to anchoring: the prosecution sets the tone by saying this is a death penalty case, the jury listens to the evidence and thinks the accused is responsible for something but isn't confident it was murder, so when the prosecution offers a lesser charge, the jury takes the out as a compromise even if they aren't completely comfortable with that lesser charge. If the prosecution had started with the lesser charge only, the jury might blame them for not proving their case.