An instructor of modern and classical languages at Missouri State University stabbed an killed a professor emeritus and also stabbed his wife when she tried to defend her husband.
The killer arrived at the victims’ residence in a Mercedes Benz and barged into the professor’s house, brandishing a big knife. He is being charged with 2nd degree murder.
Clarissa's Blog 
I don’t have à Mercedes Benz.
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I could have been the killer if I was as insane than him.
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Did you heard about the Valery Fabricant case at Concordia University?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valery_Fabrikant
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Oh yes. That was very shocking.
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A friend of mine just took a tenure track job teaching Ottoman History there. I am taking his old job in Kurdistan. Nobody expects somewhere in Iraq to be safer than somewhere in the middle of Missouri. But, the empirical evidence shows that it is.
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Missouri is messed up, for sure. I’m following the state elections and oh, Lordy. Every candidate is Mr or Mrs Creep McCreepsky.
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http://www.ky3.com/content/news/Police-investigate-deadly-stabbing-in-Springfield-Wednesday-night-390522181.html
Name of the suspect: Edward Gutting. Is this real life?
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It’s very wrong but I’m laughing.
I checked but it doesn’t seem to be The Onion.
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This is where your years of reading mysteries pays off.
Your challenge: Prove the accused didn’t do it!
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With the last name like Gutting he’s got to be guilty as hell. 😃
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As a non-US person, can I ask what actually is second degree murder? This sounds pretty unequivocally intentional to me. How can it not be first degree?
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Popular understanding (at least mine) is that second degree murder is more…. spontaneous (heat of the moment kind of thing) while first degree murder is more planned in advance.
I have no idea if that is really what applies in the law. Probably not.
Also, the specifics of first and second degree might differ by state in the US and there might be practical reasons for pursuing second rather than first degree murder charges. I suspect that in this case second degree might be part of a plea bargain (where the accused agrees to plead guilty of a lesser crime rather than face trial for a greater one).
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Both first degree and second degree murders are intentional. But first degree means special circumstances: multiple murders, torture, kidnapping, murder of a cop. These murders can carry a death penalty while 2nd degree doesn’t.
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First degree murder charges require premeditation, while second degree murder does not. A lot of those special circumstances indicate premeditation (with some random exceptions). In this particular case, the charges indicate more of a “heat of the moment” thing.
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I don’t know, he grabbed the knife and drove all the way there. To me, that’s premeditation. How often do people arrive at professors’ houses wielding knives?
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“How often do people arrive at professors’ houses wielding knives?”
hmmmmmm….. (looks down at shoes)….. mmmmm some … people…. might? have? just…. one or thre….. OKAY! 17 times! But they MADE me do it!!!!
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I know many of us have been tempted. On my first date with N, I moaned for so long about a feud with a professor that he asked me if I wanted him to go beat up the offending prof. 😃
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I said no, by the way.
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Premeditation requires a rational consideration of timing and action. While he did grab a knife and drive all the way there, was he thinking rationally? The mens rea requirement requires more evidence than they may have against him. A second degree charge is then more likely to succeed than a first degree charge.
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If he managed to drive without crashing, he had to be rational enough.
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