do you watch Crime and Punishment on Zone Reality?
I love this series, my fav show. They show the courtroom (real, not re-enactment) and tail the deputy DA as they work out their plan of attack.
There was one on last night about a guy who got into a bar brawl and pulled a gun out. He cocked the gun and loaded a bullet into the chamber, to threaten someone. The threatened guy had been trained in this situation and moved towards him and tried to grab him, the gun was pointed at him and went off, but he moved a bit at the last minute and shot someone else dead. I was wondering if someone could explain this situation to me. He got 46 years to life for 2nd degree murder. On what basis is this worked out (USA)? Does cocking the mechanism show intent (otherwise the bullet does not fire in a semi auto), sufficient to show it was deliberate? Is it true that if you try to kill someone and miss but kill someone else you get done for murder in the UK?