Darryl Anderson was drunk behind the wheel of his Audi SUV, had his accelerator pressed to the floor and was barreling toward a car ahead of him when he snapped a photo of his speedometer. The picture showed a car in the foreground, a collision warning light on his dashboard and a speed of 141 mph (227 kph).
An instant later, he slammed into the car in the photo. The driver, Shalorna Warner, was not seriously injured but her 8-month-old son and her sister were killed instantly, authorities said. Evidence showed Anderson never braked.
Anderson, 38, was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years in prison for the May 31 crash in northern England that killed little Zackary Blades and Karlene Warner. Anderson pleaded guilty last week in Durham Crown Court to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
This might qualify as murder in Germany, especially the “did not brake” part: It’s not necessary to have intent to kill someone, it is only necessary to willingly hazard the consequences. That’s how those street racers got convicted of murder.
OTOH that’s the kind of murder that gives you a life-long sentence where parole after just the minimum time (15 years) is definitely not just on the table but the norm.
“life-long” in Germany is 25 years, normally with the option for parole after 15. However there is “Sicherheitsverwahrung”, which doesn’t count as punishment but is instead justified with protecting the rest of the public from a certain person, and can be applied indefinitely.
The average imprisonment for life-long is 25 years. There’s no actual corresponding timed-sentence for lifelong as that is in fact technically lifelong, though with constitutional guarantee to have a chance at resocialisation. And § 66 StGB is most certainly not applicable to this kind of manslaughter. The dangerous part - recklessly driving a vehicle - can be mitigated by revoking and blocking the driving licence
Dangerous Offender status is what they call it in Canada. It’s reserved for the confirmed sociopaths.
Murder in germany requires intent and malice. Neither is given here.
Dolus eventualis aka Eventualvorsatz, which can indeed be summed up as “willingly hazarding the consequences”. AFAIU in English that’s not a type of intent but recklessness. It certainly is not intent to kill someone, just intent to not give a fuck whether someone dies, there’s a difference there.
Trying to sum up the stuff that distinguishes Totschlag from Mord with “malice” is also rather… vague. The key factor in this case (or at least the aspect that’s easiest to establish) is killing by using means that are a danger to public safety, to wit, a car going 226km/h. Certainly doesn’t fit the dictionary definition of “malice”.
That’s why it’s not murder in this case.
Murder would be if I kill you for your car, as an example. Or a child killing his parents for faster inheritance. In Germany, we’d call these “niederer Beweggrund”, so … “Greed-based motive”? Idk how to properly translate it.
In this case, its definitely no murder tho because neither of the three characteristics for murder are given.
“niederer Beweggrund” would be “base motive”, Habgier is greed. And they’re only one possible way to qualify murder. As I emphasised there, using means that are a danger to public safety is another.