

Did Google Earth error send murderer to wrong address? - antimora
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57568597-71/did-google-earth-error-send-murderer-to-wrong-address/

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jamesmcn
Hang on a moment, there's something about this use case that I don't really
get.

Is it ever possible to send a murderer to the _right_ address? I mean,
shouldn't we be throwing a UserIsAMurderer exception and take some other kind
of action?

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OGinparadise
_Is it ever possible to send a murderer to the right address?_

Lesser of two evils, in some cases the intended victim might have done
something to the murderer, whereas a total stranger no.

Moral of the story is that maps and addresses are a ever changing thing, dbl
check before running off with your AR15 or AK ;)

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eurleif
The intended victim might be being killed in order to suppress the truth about
even greater crimes, in which case the lesser of two evils might be for a
random person to be killed.

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aaronbrethorst
Terrible and tragic? Yes, absolutely. However, blaming Google Earth for this
is ridiculous. It reminds me of the scene from Steve Martin's classic movie,
The Jerk, where his character, Navin, is picked at random out of the phone
book as a target for murder.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcwz8-EfFYE>

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rayiner
I don't see where you get the idea that the article was blaming Google Earth.
The fact that Google Earth sends you to the wrong address is presented as an
interesting bit of evidence that might exculpate the son.

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monochromatic
Pretty thin. I don't think the jury convicted the son on the absence of this
theory, and this article really doesn't get into what evidence of guilt there
actually was.

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stickfigure
Article speculates on alternate crime theory without describing most of the
evidence that _was_ used to convict him. Seems like this applies:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridges_law_of_headlines>

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rwbt
What baffles me is how did the jury convict the son without any DNA evidence?
It looks like they came to a conclusion based on circumstantial evidence and
his character. Is that how our legal system works? I wonder how many innocent
people are out there serving sever prison terms.

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greenyoda
Lots of people are convicted based on circumstantial evidence. DNA evidence
always turns up in movies and TV shows, but in the real world it's seldom
available. For example, if you shoot someone from fifty feet away, none of his
DNA will get on you, or vice versa. If you wear gloves, none of your DNA will
get on the gun (assuming that the gun is ever found).

What's even worse is that lots of people have been convicted of serious crimes
even though DNA evidence existed that could have proved them innocent (by
proving someone else committed the crime). There's even an organization called
The Innocence Project[1] that's devoted to exonerating wrongly convicted
people. But even the handful of people who are lucky enough to be exonerated
sometimes spend decades in jail before their convictions are overturned, and
some people have been proven innocent after having been executed. And the
worst thing is that some courts will refuse to reopen cases even when
convincing evidence of innocence has been produced; they'd rather let innocent
people rot in jail than suffer the embarrassment of having made a serious
error.

Also, the story says the defendant was "broke", which means that he was
probably represented by an overworked public defender rather than a hot-shot
lawyer.

[1] <http://www.innocenceproject.org>

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hmsimha
It's unbelievable to me that they could give someone 2 consecutive life
sentences unless the evidence is a lot more incriminating than the article
mentioned. I hope he's guilty, as it looks like he's going to be behind bars
for life, but if he happens to be innocent I can't imagine how terrible his
life is right now.

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jrs235
No. A hired hit doesn't stick around to dig through only the dresser drawers
while leaving wallets, [rare and collectible] coins, and other valuables
(jewelry) laying out in plain sight alone. Not to mention who starts at the
bottom draw and works their way up?

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craftkiller
If you start on the bottom drawer you don't have to close them to access the
next drawer

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Mc_Big_G
Yeah, if you like having a dresser fall on you.

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NoPiece
It is conspicuous that the article says the Google Earth data is wrong, but
never mentions Google Maps, which is much more likely to have been used.

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thesis
Just got done watching this on TV. I know it's possible... but would a hitman
really use a .22 rifle? The son most likely did it. He spent over 700k of his
dads money day trading.. he wrote a note that said "fixed ya" to throw off
suspicions of his son.

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Wegener
I could be wrong, but I believe 22 rifles are used by hitmen because the
bullets don't have enough power to pass through the victim to leave exit
wounds. Exit wounds tell a lot about a murder.

Also, I don't know many details about this case but I thought you could only
be found guilty if the proof was beyond a shadow of a doubt?

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mehwoot
Beyond "reasonable doubt".

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greenyoda
And it's the jury that gets to decide whether there's reasonable doubt, so the
standard is extremely variable.

