Gun crime - Was Bubba wrongly accused?

[bhsup]

Listening to a good ol' country song this morning on the way to work and I got to thinking that maybe Bubba was charged with the wrong crime. Lyrics are in the spoiler tag with relevant parts bolded.

Spoiler :

We were all down at Margie's bar
Telling stories if we had one
Someone fired the old jukebox up
The song sure was a sad one
A teardrop rolled down Bubba's nose
From the pain the song was inflicting
And all at once he jumped to his feet
Just like somebody kicked him

Bubba shot the juke box last night
Said it played a sad song it made him cry
Went to his truck and got a forty five
Bubba shot the juke box last night

Bubba ain't never been accused of being mentality stable
So we did not draw an easy breathe
Until he laid that colt on the table
He hung his head till the cops showed up
They dragged him right out of Margie's
Told him "Don't play dumb with us, son"
"Know damn well what the charge is."

Bubba shot the juke box last night
Said it played a sad song it made him cry
Went to his truck and got a forty five
Bubba shot the juke box last night

Well, the sheriff arrived with his bathrobe on
The confrontation was a tense one
Shook his head said, "Bubba Boy,"
"You was always a dense one."
Reckless discharge of a gun
That's what the officers are claiming
Bubba hollered, "Reckless! Hell!"
"I shot just where I was aiming."

Bubba shot the juke box last night
Said it played a sad song it made him cry
Went to his truck and got a forty five
Bubba shot the juke box stopped it with one shot
Bubba shot the jukebox last night
Well he could not tell right from wrong
Through the teardrops in his eyes
Beyond a shadow of a doubt
It was justifiable homicide
Bubba shot the juke box stopped it with one shot
Bubba shot the jukebox last night

Okay, so we have a guy who methodically went out to his vehicle, grabbed his gun, aimed and fired one shot at a jukebox, then placed his gun on the table. One shot, mind you, and it was aimed at a specific target. He wasn't some idiot yahoo firing a gun into the air during a holiday (those DO come back down you know.)

So anyway, given what he actually did, should he really be charged with reckless discharge? He obviously knew what he was doing and wasn't firing wildly.

 

[Adamb0mb]

Sounds pretty reckless to me.

There could have been bullet ricochet or dangerous jukebox debris flying about. Bubba, who "ain't never been accused of being mentality stable", shouldn't be so emo.

 

[I'm Cleo!]

Yes. He knew or should have known that his actions could cause injury to the other people in the bar (the bullet could have ricocheted, he was drunk and could have missed, parts of the jukebox could have struck nearby patrons, &c.). If you fire a gun in a bar, it's "reckless" because you disregarded the risks of firing a gun in a bar, even if you did so calmly. If someone calmly and methodically sets a bomb in a train station, it's "reckless endangerment."

Cleo

 

[twansalem]

Maybe he should have been charged with destruction of property instead.

But mostly I just wanted to reply saying that "Bubba Shot the Jukebox" is an awesome song, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a reference to it on this site.

 

[Arwon]

I'm not sure that reckless and premeditated/controlled/precise are necessarily proper antonyms, nor mutually exclusive.

 

[Arwon]

To expand on that, if you plan a driving stunt, and meticulously work out the physics of it, plan it in advance, you're still guilty of reckless driving if you do it on a public road.

 

[Bamspeedy]

Bubba ain't never been accused of being mentality stable

Not guilty by reason of insanity.

 

[MobBoss]

Yes, it was reckless discharge.......not to mention willful destruction of someone elses property. You can probably toss in malicious mischief in there too for the hell of it.

 

[Masquerouge]

I say Bubba is guilty. You just don't shoot guns in public places. The only thing we don't really know is if Bubba had had a few drinks.

Great idea for a thread, btw

 

[bhsup]

Great idea for a thread, btw

All the gun threads seem to be pretty heated and poisonous. Figured why not have a light-hearted one.

 

[skadistic]

What was the song playing? Was it CD or old timey jukebox? I'd like to see more info in the way of possible mitigating circumstances.

 

[Elrohir]

I'd say it was reckless, because he was firing a gun in an inhabited building for a (legally) unimportant reasons. There could have been someone on the other side of the wall, remember - a .45 would probably tear through a jukebox pretty good. Also, he wilfully destroyed someone else's property.

So, no, he wasn't wrongly accused. Amusing thread, though.

 

[demokratickid]

To answer the thread title: NO. This does qualify as reckless endangerment. Would you like it if you were sitting next to that jukebox? Didn't think so...

 

[I'm Cleo!]

It's a good hypo to trip up law students who aren't clear on the legal meaning of "reckless." You really could do a whole class on song lyrics and criminal law and procedure. Up next, 99 Problems: at his traffic stop, can the officer search Jay-Z's locked glove compartment and trunk without a warrant?

Cleo

 

[skadistic]

To answer the thread title: NO. This does qualify as reckless endangerment. Would you like it if you were sitting next to that jukebox? Didn't think so...

Next to? No worries. Behind. Yeah that's an issue.

 

[demokratickid]

Next to? No worries. Behind. Yeah that's an issue.

Still, being near the jukebox with someone firing a gun at it would be at least a little weird. Like standing next to a raging bull and saying, "I ain't gettin' gored..."

 

[skadistic]

Still, being near the jukebox with someone firing a gun at it would be at least a little weird. Like standing next to a raging bull and saying, "I ain't gettin' gored..."

Nothing like a bull. A bull is an animal that when it goes off takes things out in large patches. A gun fired once is a tiny area.

 

[demokratickid]

Nothing like a bull. A bull is an animal that when it goes off takes things out in large patches. A gun fired once is a tiny area.

And when someone like Bubba being in an emotionally disturbed state, his aim might be off a little. Like a highly-strung William Tell firing in the midst of a panic attack...

 

[skadistic]

And when someone like Bubba being in an emotionally disturbed state, his aim might be off a little. Like a highly-strung William Tell firing in the midst of a panic attack...

Lets see. How far was he standing? how off would his aim have been shooting at a 3 foot wide by 4 maybe 5 foot high?his aim would have to be much more then a little off.

 

[demokratickid]

Lets see. How far was he standing? how off would his aim have been shooting at a 3 foot wide by 4 maybe 5 foot high?his aim would have to be much more then a little off.

I don't know. I couldn't hit the side of a barn from three feet away, so Bubba's got a better chance of not killing people in this situation. However, the law sees it differently. This shooting within the direct vicinity of others is still illegal, to some extent at least...