Legal Status
As participating in a game of Russian roulette is considered to be a grossly reckless risk to human life, most common-law jurisdictions in the United States would support a finding of depraved-heart murder (or equivalent) or conspiracy to commit murder for persons who join a game of Russian roulette in which a participant dies. This notably occurred in Commonwealth v. Malone, 47 A.2d 445 (1946), in which a Pennsylvania teenager's conviction for murder as a result of shooting a friend during a game of Russian roulette was upheld.
Read more about this topic: Russian Roulette In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words legal and/or status:
“If he who breaks the law is not punished, he who obeys it is cheated. This, and this alone, is why lawbreakers ought to be punished: to authenticate as good, and to encourage as useful, law-abiding behavior. The aim of criminal law cannot be correction or deterrence; it can only be the maintenance of the legal order.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
“As a work of art it has the same status as a long conversation between two not very bright drunks.”
—Clive James (b. 1939)