In a premeditated murder, there is no hesitation to brand a person with the scarlet M. But when a homeowner shoots an assailant who has made his way into the home in the middle of the night and attempts to abduct a child, not only is that person not guilty, they might end up with hero status.
So she is "guilty" of doing something wrong. I'm sure we can agree that she shouldn't have any more children in her care. She might even be a criminal. But a murderer?
In 2014, Georgia added second-degree murder to the statute previously reserved for malice murder and felony murder, OCGA 16-5-1. We all know the definition of malice. Felony murder is where someone, in the commission of a felony, causes the death of another. Think the driver of the getaway car in a bank robbery where the police kill one of the robbers in the getaway. The driver is charged with felony murder.
Now, someone who, in the commission of cruelty to children in the second degree, causes the death of another, irrespective of malice, commits second-degree murder and that person shall be punished by imprisonment for no fewer than 10 or more than 30 years. Any person commits the offense of cruelty to children in the second degree when the person, with criminal negligence, causes a child under the age of 18 cruel or excessive physical or mental pain.
Even a person who kills another while drunk driving isn't called a murderer. The crime is vehicular homicide, which sounds so sanitized. The punishment is 3-15 years in prison.
But even if she was aware of the string's presence, or if it didn't matter if she knew, since she was the caregiver, does that make her a murderer for not watching him closely enough to stop him from placing it around his head and strangling? A murderer?
Do we even want to criminalize that type of behavior? We rarely do when parents are the perpetrators. We call them accidents and say that the parents will have to live with their actions for the rest of their lives. Of course they will. Spending a few moments in the courtroom was enough to know that Thompson will, too.
Would the state have charged Thompson if she were Max's mother? Wouldn't we all have been in shock if Paul Howard did? Which parent among us has not taken their eyes off their child while distracted by another? Which parent hasn't made a mistake?
