Alethea Dice
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So, by this scenario, when someone confesses to a lesser crime, they should expect to be charged with a far greater crime first, so that the world should think that they are a murderer when in fact they are actually helping LE? I'm sorry, but that still doesn't make sense to me. Why would anyone cooperate with LE if LE routinely charged people with more serious crimes when they confess to minor ones? There is no incentive there to cooperate if that is the case.
And even if that were the case, couldn't it apply to DM as easily as it could apply to MS?
Also, I believe that the scenario about someone not knowing that a crime is going to happen and not participating but confessing afterwards to being an accessory after the fact does not automatically mean a first degree murder charge unless confinement was involved, or some other mitigating factor, if I remember correctly.
All my opinion only.
Although it's commonly believed that when a murder occurs during a kidnapping or confinement, the charge is first degree regardless of whether a person knew the death was going to occur, I'm not sure if that's actually true. The Criminal Code only says:
Hijacking, sexual assault or kidnapping
(5) Irrespective of whether a murder is planned and deliberate on the part of any person, murder is first degree murder in respect of a person when the death is caused by that person while committing or attempting to commit an offence under one of the following sections:
(a) section 76 (hijacking an aircraft);
(b) section 271 (sexual assault);
(c) section 272 (sexual assault with a weapon, threats to a third party or causing bodily harm);
(d) section 273 (aggravated sexual assault);
(e) section 279 (kidnapping and forcible confinement); or
(f) section 279.1 (hostage taking).
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-231.html
As we've seen in the Billy Mason case, JL was there during the kidnapping at gunpoint and helped burn the body, but still his charge was reduced to accessory after the fact.
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/2268853-clairmont-we-burned-him-together-/
The thing about confessing is that one either confesses their part and takes their punishment, or they confess and plead guilty to a lesser charge. They don't just continue on to trial. As far as I've heard, both DM and MS are still attending the hearings and it would appear they are both still being tried together.
JMO