Student Googles Himself, Finds He's Accused of Murder

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Bad Day: You Google your name one day only to find out you’ve been convicted of murder. Worse Day: The media ran your picture on TV in connection with the crime.

"I was just very shocked to find my picture and the article saying that I was convicted of a felony murder charge," he said, "and I was just very shocked and angry that someone put my name up there and said I did something I didn't do."
Click to expand...
 
oh...that's bad. Let's hope Mom didn't see it before he had a chance to try and explain.
 
How do you get convicted of a crime without showing up for court?

At the very worst, he'd have a warrant for his arrest, and any decent lawyer could get him off of it since he wasn't served.

Not to mention that he's innocent? Gee, maybe it's a guy with the same name as him?
 
Taer said:
How do you get convicted of a crime without showing up for court?

At the very worst, he'd have a warrant for his arrest, and any decent lawyer could get him off of it since he wasn't served.

Not to mention that he's innocent? Gee, maybe it's a guy with the same name as him?
Click to expand...

RTFA, it was someone else with his name, but the police used a picture of him (that they probably found on Facebook).
 
Taer said:
How do you get convicted of a crime without showing up for court?

At the very worst, he'd have a warrant for his arrest, and any decent lawyer could get him off of it since he wasn't served.

Not to mention that he's innocent? Gee, maybe it's a guy with the same name as him?
Click to expand...

Didn't read the article? It was somebody else with a similar name, but the Sheriff office sent out this guy's picture instead. If you're going to release pictures of people that have already been caught and locked up (eg you're just saying 'Look at these bad people', not 'Help us find this dangerous criminal) you better make sure you release ACCURATE photos. You don't have to release them at all, so when you choose to do something like that you should triple check that you aren't sending out some picture to all the local media of the wrong person.
 
I googled my full name once and there were several name came up and one of them was deceased due to fatal accident. After that, I never tried to google my name again. F that.
 
I have the same name as a well-known movie producer... googling myself is never very exciting :/
 
The media's lack of fact checking is getting way out of hand.
 
Azhar said:
The media's lack of fact checking is getting way out of hand.
Click to expand...
That's because they're lazy bastards who are not doing one of their main jobs by questioning those in power in government and business. They simply regurgitate PR statements.
 
Seems some of you didn't actually read the article before commenting. The press released the photo that they were given by the Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's Office took the photo from his drivers license.

This was the Sheriff's Office's fault, not the press.
 
tubular said:
Seems some of you didn't actually read the article before commenting. The press released the photo that they were given by the Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's Office took the photo from his drivers license.

This was the Sheriff's Office's fault, not the press.
Click to expand...

Journalist must fact-check EVERYTHING, ESPECIALLY when given something by a government entity. It's EXPLICITLY the media's fault for making false news reports. You can't defend them for that. That's what they're for.

The Sheriff was in the wrong too, but it does not excuse the media whatsoever.
 
Man, I wish that happened to me, it'd be the best day ever. I'd get an AWESOME screencap - and then I'd be so goddamned rich from the lawsuit...
 
RiZnO said:
Uwe Boll?
Click to expand...

Did you serioiusly just refer to the Uwe Boll as a movie director? I am not sure you can call anything he is attached to a movie, and not sure he really directors anything. that seems like an insult to actual movie directors to include him in that group.
 
See thats weird. Whenever I google my name it just comes up with the most awesome person ever. Every time.

Also people who get caught for murder fail to plan. tsk.
 
Exavior said:
Did you serioiusly just refer to the Uwe Boll as a movie director? I am not sure you can call anything he is attached to a movie, and not sure he really directors anything. that seems like an insult to actual movie directors to include him in that group.
Click to expand...

... sigh
 
on a positive note, the other teens involved in the crime are being charged with murder. damn, sometimes i love you US. Here in Canada, the robbers could fall down your stairs and sue you for having an unsafe house.
 
Can you imagine having the name John Smith? Google will probably say you've done everything, everywhere, and died 47 times in the process LOL
 
Happened to a friend of mine. A guy sexually assaulted an underage girl in our area. My friend has a really common name and the same name as the guy involved in the assault. The newspaper just grabbed the first photo they found on facebook (my friend) and stuck it on their frontpage! A few days later they printed an apology, but the damage is already done by then.
 
Quite a few years ago, I walked into my house where my daughter was watching TV. As I stepped through the door, the announcer said, "Magnus died today." Turns out it was a television reporter of the same name but, it made me do a quick self check anyway. :)
 
Majinhoju said:
on a positive note, the other teens involved in the crime are being charged with murder. damn, sometimes i love you US. Here in Canada, the robbers could fall down your stairs and sue you for having an unsafe house.
Click to expand...

I thought that was completely messed up when they said that because the man died while in commission of a felony, the rest of them are charged with murder. There was no murder, the home owner killed the man in self defence!

Different example: 4 guys go to rob a bank. One of the men is batshit crazy and kills the teller after he is told they don't have access to the safe. The other three guys didn't plan that, but they are all charged with murder because it happened during the commission of a felony. This makes sense because what the member of their group did is actually murder.
 
Bootleg Usher said:
I thought that was completely messed up when they said that because the man died while in commission of a felony, the rest of them are charged with murder. There was no murder, the home owner killed the man in self defence!

Different example: 4 guys go to rob a bank. One of the men is batshit crazy and kills the teller after he is told they don't have access to the safe. The other three guys didn't plan that, but they are all charged with murder because it happened during the commission of a felony. This makes sense because what the member of their group did is actually murder.
Click to expand...

Charging them with murder probably is extreme considering they did not commit the murder. I've just heard too many stories of the criminals being treated like victims. I say make an example of them.
 
Majinhoju said:
Charging them with murder probably is extreme considering they did not commit the murder. I've just heard too many stories of the criminals being treated like victims. I say make an example of them.
Click to expand...

When someone dies as a direct results of someone commiting a felony then it's murder under the statute. In this case robber #1 died while robber #2 was commiting a felon (burglery). I have no problem with this application of the law.

I'm also a firm believer that once you do something like break into someone's house you have forefitted your life.
 
Majinhoju said:
on a positive note, the other teens involved in the crime are being charged with murder. damn, sometimes i love you US. Here in Canada, the robbers could fall down your stairs and sue you for having an unsafe house.
Click to expand...

Happens in the USA also. Wish i could find the article, but i recall some years back hearing about how somebody tried to climb into a house through a skylight, slipped and fell instead broke their leg on the counter and I want to say that they sued and won $40k from the home owners. There have been multiple cases that i've heard of where somebody breaks into a house and is shoot and either they live and sue and win for being shot, or they die and the family sues and wins for wrongful death.

Bootleg Usher said:
I thought that was completely messed up when they said that because the man died while in commission of a felony, the rest of them are charged with murder. There was no murder, the home owner killed the man in self defence!

Different example: 4 guys go to rob a bank. One of the men is batshit crazy and kills the teller after he is told they don't have access to the safe. The other three guys didn't plan that, but they are all charged with murder because it happened during the commission of a felony. This makes sense because what the member of their group did is actually murder.
Click to expand...

Majinhoju said:
Charging them with murder probably is extreme considering they did not commit the murder. I've just heard too many stories of the criminals being treated like victims. I say make an example of them.
Click to expand...

That is just how the law works in some states, it is called felony murder, if you are involved in a felony in which somebody dies you are charged with the murder. Doesn't matter which way it plays out. 4 people robbing a bank and the teller being shot by one of the 4, or 4 people breaking into a house and the home owner shotting one of them and killing them. They do that do try to deter people from committing a felony as they know if anything goes wrong they can be charged also.
 
Azhar said:
Yes. The police gave them a pic to display. Does that excuse the media from fact-checking? Is that what you're implying?
Click to expand...

So you'll take some random Internet media article's word for it that the media got the photo from the police. That's reliable and without questioning or fact-checking on your part.

But when the media asks the police for a photo of the suspect, and the police say "Here's his photo," but it turns out to be the wrong photo, that's a failure on the media's part for not doing due diligence in corroborating a story?
:eek:

This is hardly news-worthy, let alone any kind of failure on the media's part.
 
I google my name once every few months, and I've never had an experience as exciting as this. Somehow I am jealous.
 
vengence said:
I'm also a firm believer that once you do something like break into someone's house you have forefitted your life.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but people are supposed to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment. An unarmed man breaking in to someones house to steal their VCR should receive the appropriate punishment under the law, and not automatically forfeit their life.

Don't get me wrong, criminals need to be punished but homeowners shouldn't be able to decide "no, instead of turning this guy in I think I will just kill him"
 
Bootleg Usher said:
Yeah, but people are supposed to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment. An unarmed man breaking in to someones house to steal their VCR should receive the appropriate punishment under the law, and not automatically forfeit their life.

Don't get me wrong, criminals need to be punished but homeowners shouldn't be able to decide "no, instead of turning this guy in I think I will just kill him"
Click to expand...

There's two seperate issues here.

The first is what is appropriate punishment for breaking and entering to steal a VCR. I don't think the current punishments are large enough, but that's just me.

The second and more important issue is your mentality of the home owner. His mentallity is not "I think I'm going to kill this guy for sport". It's

"what the hell was that crash, what time is it, what the hell is going on?" *still groggy from waking up at 3am to a crash in the night
*fumbles around in the dark and manages to grabs his gun*
"oh my god theres 4 guys in ski masks in my living room with crowbars!"
*bang bang bang*

He's scared shitless about 4 large men in his living room, what is he suppose to do, stop and ask them nicely if they've got any guns tucked in their belt where he can't immediately see them?

The homeowner was never thinking about "instead of turning these guys in I'll kill them", they're terrified thinking they're about to die if they don't do something.
 
LightningCrash said:
So you'll take some random Internet media article's word for it that the media got the photo from the police. That's reliable and without questioning or fact-checking on your part.

But when the media asks the police for a photo of the suspect, and the police say "Here's his photo," but it turns out to be the wrong photo, that's a failure on the media's part for not doing due diligence in corroborating a story?
:eek:

This is hardly news-worthy, let alone any kind of failure on the media's part.
Click to expand...

It should not be our job to fact-check. That's the problem with today's media I'm trying to convey. The media is supposed to be our guardian against government propaganda and other untruths and secrets that shouldn't be secrets.

Why are you even arguing with me about this? I'm not talking about my own researches. I know that today's news should be taken with a grain of salt because news organizations have agendas and politicians to support or ratings to maintain. It's not about the news anymore. I'm saying that they should go back to their roots and start doing some background checks before making news.
 
I Googled myself.. and Google loves me.

I'm proud to be able to go to my employer and say, "Google me."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top