Quote: Oldrocker @ 26th February 2015, 11:47 PM GMTI can't really believe what I'm reading here.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/26/felony-murder-teenager-55-years-jail-indiana
It's a very poorly written article, but the subject matter isn't all that rare in the United States. It all boils down to this: if something bad happens while you're committing a crime, you are to blame. If an ambulance speeding to the scene of your crime runs over an old lady, it's your fault. If a cop fires a shot at you because you're pointing a gun and the cop's shot kills a bystander, you're to blame. You are the person who set the whole thing into motion.
The article tries to paint a sympathetic portrait of the young man for a British audience, but Americans have a much different view of people who break into an occupied dwelling. These criminals fully understand that they might be breaking into a home with an armed occupant, so it's not easy feeling sympathy for them, when I myself would have shot them had I been in the homeowner's shoes.
As they say, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."