Hero Karen Brown may be charged with murder .

[Eunos]

Brown has officially been charged with murder today in Sydney.

[HAL]

Is that the only colour was charged with murder in Sydney?

[Eunos]

Hmmmmmmmm.....is the bot attached to everything I post now?

[LeonMcS]

She got we she deserved, even though she had been attacked she shot the guy unnecessarily. Having said that, I would have had more sympathy for her if she had wounded him in the arm or leg. Its a sad situation, nevertheless.

[commonwombat]

Nothing heroic at all about Karen Brown.

For those curious, the use of firearms by security guards is strictly regulated as to when and under what circumstances they may be used. Any use/carrying off-duty is illegal.

This woman appears to be semi-trained and to think that she has been allowed to carry a firearm is mind-boggling.

[Joel]

...and to think, if the guy hadn't of attacked her, he wouldn't be dead, and she wouldn't have been charged with murder.

[Blanch]

Watch for the autonomy defence to come. The kiling was an out of body experience I'll bet you. Murder won't get through as there are too many extenuating circumstances....think about it. Here is a lady who was beaten up, with the scars and bruises to prove it. She shoots someone. Nobody can prove that at the moment she shot him that she was fully in control of her faculties. It's impossible to prove.

[Eunos]

Agreed Blanch. Manslaughter would bring a swift conviction, but Murder will not sit with any australian jury.

[Joel]

You reckon the cops deliberatly charged her with murder, ie. they reckon she should get off? Wouldn't suprise me.

That raises the question, if the DPP try to plea bargain with her, should Karen Brown say yes? Hmmmmm.

[Eunos]

That was my point Joel, I think the charge has been made to give everyone some sense of justice.

[commonwombat]

Without getting too far into subjudice, I will try and wade thru some of the speculation above.

There are certainly enough grounds to lay Murder charges as have been lodged. The question of making them stick is another matter.

The question of a plea bargain may certainly come into play. Diminished responsibility is a maybe but not a given. The shot wasNOT fired at the time of the said assault when self-defence would have had some credence. It took place clearly after the assault and can well be argued as being a calculated act. Her aim will be to convince that she was not conscious of her actions at that time.

It may be dropped down to a lower degree murder, manslaughter maybe. DPP may look at these options. Know for one thing, don't think the NSW cops will have played silly buggers here. There is some respect between them and the reputable security firms but cowboy operators such as employed Ms Brown are as popular as farts in a spacesuit.

For what little its worth, once more facts became available public opinion DID NOT run in her favour. Doing "a runner" and playing silly buggers with the cops did her no favours at all with anyone.

[Blanch]

[commonwombat]

Interesting comments Blanch.

What you are saying has some credence. Brown has, however, by her own actions potentially damaged that line of defence thus giving the prosecution sufficient grounds to contest whether she was indeed "in control".

By avoiding police, yet being sufficiently "with it" to conduct media interviews is potentially very prejudicial to her defence; far more so than co-operating at the start. She was "at liberty" at this time. As such the trial judge may rule this admissable as Brown's state of mind is going to be more the subject of the trial than the facts of the offence.

Had she handed herself over to the police at the time, things would almost certainly have progressed as you suggest. As it is this can be open to legitimate scrutiny. The DPP may certainly consider a plea bargain and a down-grade in degree may well proceed. Brown walking is another matter.

[CQ]

yeh she wasnt conscious of her actions but managed to go out there 2 the carpark, find him in the car, get the gun out, SHOOT, not wildly, but she got him in the head, like i said b4, a relatively small small area if you apparently don't know what you're doing.

its not manslaughter if you PLAN it. which she did.

[piedys]