Is Bush guilty of negligent homicide?

[quaoar]

I was listening to Ed Schultz's show this afternoon and they brought this question up -- prompted by the negligent homicide charges against the nursing home owners who failed to evacuate their patients.

In other words, is Bush just as guilty as the nursing home owners?

Of course, the president cannot be charged with a crime, only the House can do that. And he is immune from civil liability for actions (or inactions) taken as part of his official duties.

But it's still an interesting question.

[smoogatz]

1. Yes. In the case of 9/11, too.

3500 counts, with many more bodies still to be found and identified.

[Birthmark]

2. Yes.

That's the long and short of it. His, and his lackey's, protestations that this person didn't do this or that or the other thing has no bearing on this fact: That Bush alone had power to get food and water to those who needed it. He knew (or should have known) that such need existed; he knew that he had the power to get it to them; he failed to render that aid. I'm not an attorney, but that sure as hell looks like negligent homicide to me. Depraved indifference at the very least. Such a man has no place in the White House.

Bush should resign immediately.

[Canuckistanian]

3. Technically it would be 'Reckless Indifference'

Treat him the same as those people who leave their children in the car while they go to a bar.

[Laelth]

11. And recklessness is worse than negligence.

I agree with your assessment.

-Laelth

[calimary]

4. YES. And I'd add the Iraq war to that, too, myself.

DEFINITELY in the case of Katrina.

Just as those nursing home operators are facing this charge now, I think they apply to bush also. Their fault and guilt are his as well. Funny thing, too: when I've brought this up with the staffers of various Democratic congresspeople whom I phoned this morning, they were in total agreement.

Reckless endangerment. Criminal negligence. Involuntary manslaughter (what they'd plead it down to - if it were me, capital murder, first degree). Fraud and breach of contract, too. Because he promised repeatedly that HE was the one to keep us safe.

[texpatriot2004]

5. Yes he is. n/t

[fooj]

6. You bet your sweet bippy he is!

Peace.

[MrMickeysMom]

7. Let me think a minute.....

YES:patriot:

[we can do it]

8. Yes

Is it malfeasance or misfeasance?

[Bucky]

9. Morally, yes. Legally, it's only malfeasance of office

He could be sued personally in civil court, but not brought to trial in criminal court. In the case of Katrina, he's only a bad manager. The criminal stuff is still lurking in the Rove-Iraq-Chalabi zone.

[livefrom]

10. What are the exact laws that apply to this situation?

In other words, what are the specific obligations of Bush, Congress, FEMA, the governors, the state governments, the mayors, the local governments and the residents themselves (for example, those who could have safely left but did not)? What are these obligations as they are spelled out in various Federal and state laws and regulations? Knowing this would help sort out this mess of who is responsible for what.

[quaoar]

12. Not sure.

I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure, for instance, that a person can be charged with a crime for failing to render assistance. If you walk past someone who is lying in the street bleeding and do nothing and that person dies, you can be charged with a crime.

[livefrom]

14. I think those are the relatively new "good samaritan" laws

which I am not sure have been passed upon by the Supreme Court yet. However, I do believe they are very specific, limited to situations such as you described, walking past someone who is bleeding.

It would be a huge stretch to extend this concept up to the level of government, even at the local level much less the executive branch of the Federal government, without express statutes on the subject. I don't know if these types of statutes exist or not, and if they do, what exactly they require.

[burrowowl]

13. Throw in dereliction

of duty!
And if he is impeached, he can be tried.

[samsingh]

15. i would say yes.

[renie408]

16. Duh

Damn skippy. He'll never be charged with it, but he is also responsible for regular old murder. If I was scared of my neighbor because he ranted and generally acted like a nut and I suspected him of having a gun, so I went and killed his whole family and the people that were staying in the house with them for it....then it turned out that he DIDN'T have a gun and was just running his mouth...I would be arrested and put UNDER the jail.

And if someone for whom I was responsible called me and said, "HELP!! We are dying here!!" And I went to bed and didn't respond for five days and they died...yeah, I think I am sure as hell guilty of something.