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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 6215080" data-attributes="member: 19675">Well, this is one of those things in US law that is drafted and interpreted broadly.  "Cooling off" periods in homicide statutes are almost always defined by a "reasonable man" standard, and Maine is no exception.  So what happens is they have to convince a jury (or judge, depending) that "in ________ situation, a reasonable man" would not have cooled down.Because this was a negotiated sentence, we can infer that the prosecutor did not believe he could convince 12 jurors that there was sufficient time to cool down.That's nothing unusual at all.  You'd see much the same in any BWS type case in the USA.  And yet, it is rarely a successful defense.Again, the prosecutor clearly didn't think he could convince a jury of that, at least not to the standard required by law, so he settled for a negotiated plea deal.Remember, he's working with a LOT more data than we'd find in a news report- he's got expert testimony reports, police reports, officer depositions, other witness testimony (the daughter, the 911 operator, the neighbors, etc.), possible police reports displaying a pattern of business behavior, etc.And a dirty bomb.  And the FBI talking about its sophistication and completeness.All this would have been entered into evidence and weighed by a jury.  He looks at all of this.  He's got experience with the judges in the area.  He's got experience with how liberal or conservative the jurors in his county tend to trend.  He's going to look at what is spread out on his desk and decide whether he can win this case, and of so, what it would take.And looking at all of this, he decided to settle.(Oh yeah- complete non sequitur, goldomark- you might not want to use too many colors in the dark grey/black/blue side of things, since that's next to invisible against the black background of the forum's Legacy skin setting.)</blockquote>

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