Did anyone know that Michael Brown killed someone?
I didn't know that Michael Brown was charged with Murder as a juvenile, and what is worse is that I read that the courts are trying to conceal his murder record from the public. http://m.christianpost.com/news/lawsuit-claims-michael-brown-was-charged-with-murder-while-he-was-a-juvenile--125611/ I think that this is all surprising as his murder record the store robbery, and fight with the police seem to piece together a story of a celebrated criminal which is wrong.
Would the murder charges be dropped if I killed someone in self defence from a break in but buried them in the woods behind a local school in my area?
For murder charges to have been filed in the first place, some aspect of your story would likely not correspond with the physical evidence found on the scene of the shooting and whatever statements you and others have provided to the authorities. Since for reasons known only to you, a decision as made to not call the authorities but to bury the body away from the scene of the shooting it seems likely that you would be charged corpse desecration and improperly handling the remains of the deceased at the very least. There simply isn't a reason that would be rational for you to kill an intruder to your home and do anything with the remains besides calling the authorities. Even if you were a felon and firearms ownership was prohibited, you'd probably gain some leniency as opposed to what you'd receive when they had to dig the remains from a shallow grave, especially one near a school.
Do police sometimes send in under-aged people to stores to check if the stores are IDing?
When I was 19 my friends and I would take turn to hang out in front of the liquor store in our neighborhood and ask people who were going in if they would buy six pack for me. Most people would say no, but eventually someone would. (In our defense, this was in Illinois, where you had to 21 to buy beer; meanwhile you could buy beer in Wisconsin at 18. Presumably Wisconsin understood that if the government expects an 18 year to die for their country, they ought to be able to have a beer.) One night it was my turn. After several people declined, a middle aged guy emerged from a car. When I asked him to buy me a six pack, he sized me (I was fairly clean cut at the time) and then pulled out a Chicago Police badge. My knees went weak and my heart was pounding. This was it … I’m getting arrested. Instead, he said, “It’ll cost you five bucks … plus the cost of the beer. (That was a lot in 1970; I think that the beer cost less than $1.50.).” I handed him the money without hesitation and he disappeared into the store.While I waited for him I looked at his car. Sure enough, it was an unmarked police car. He came out pretty quickly, handed me the beer, and said, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” and left with my change.So in 1970, at least some on the police force were not wasting their time worrying about guys drinking beer who were old enough to be in the army.Meanwhile, from previous experience, the guy in the store would take one look at you as you walked in, point at the door and say, “Get outta here.”
What is second-degree murder?
It depends entirely upon what state you are in. In my state, Pennsylvania, second degree Murder is a Homicide committed in the course of Felony. It is punishable by life without possibility of parole. Every state is different. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 18 § 2502. Murder. (a) Murder of the first degree.--A criminal homicide constitutes murder of the first degree when it is committed by an intentional killing. (b) Murder of the second degree.--A criminal homicide constitutes murder of the second degree when it is committed while defendant was engaged as a principal or an accomplice in the perpetration of a felony. (c) Murder of the third degree.--All other kinds of murder shall be murder of the third degree. Murder of the third degree is a felony of the first degree.
What does it mean if bail is set at $1 million? How serious must the crime be?
Bail is the amount you must pay to the court in order to be set free while awaiting trial. So if bail is set at $1 million, depending on the location, that means that in order to gain your freedom pending trial, you would need to come up with (1) $1 million in cash (which would be refunded, minus some costs, if you appear at trial), (2) collateral, such as the deed to property, worth $1 million (also refundable), or (3) a bond worth $1 million (which will likely cost you $100–150,000 and not be refundable). As surveys have repeatedly shown that the majority of Americans would struggle to come up with even $1,000 in an emergency, $1 million in bail would be an impossibility for most people, meaning that the accused would likely remain incarcerated until trial. Sometimes, jurisdictions are required to offer bail, so high bails are effectively the court putting freedom beyond the reach of the accused.What would you have to be accused of to merit $1 million in bail? Definitely something bad like murder or bank robbery, but there are plenty of serious offenders who are released on five-figure bails. This is because assuming you are eligible for bail, the biggest factor in determining bail amounts (beyond the severity of the crime) is the risk of your not appearing at trial; bail is supposed to be no more than is necessary to guarantee that you return for your trial.To go back to the issue above, most accused criminals simply don't have a lot of cash/assets. So $10k in bail might be an enormous sum (maybe you have to ask friends/family for money or put your car/house up as collateral) for someone of limited means, and thereby make it unlikely that that person would attempt to flee justice. On the other hand, $1,000 (the cost of a $10k bond) would be pocket change for a wealthy professional like me if it meant not having to be incarcerated, so if the court was concerned that I would attempt to flee a serious charge, bail would have to be set much higher. So when you see enormous bail amounts, sometimes it's because the crime is extraordinarily heinous, but often it's because the accused is wealthy or a flight risk, and the stakes for not appearing at trial have to be raised.