Depressed? Here, use my gun.

[Jaded]

Christopher Burda said his friend was so despondent over her father's death and other problems that he believed only a major jolt would snap her out of it.

He said he was "calling her bluff" when he retrieved the 9mm Beretta he had bought from her father and even reloaded it with three fresh bullets after it failed to fire on Nancy Choquette's first attempt.

Moments later, she lifted the gun to her head and used it to kill herself in Burda's kitchen.

Burda now faces up to 20 years in prison after a jury convicted him Tuesday of involuntary manslaughter in Choquette's death on November 21, 2005, her 51st birthday.

Jurors, who deliberated for just more than an hour, sided with prosecutors, who said Burda should have known Choquette was too suicidal and intoxicated to be trusted with a loaded weapon -- particularly one with such emotional significance.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/03/11/suicide.manslaughter.ap/index.html

[impqueen]

that's evil. Reloading the gun for her? He wanted her to kill herself.

[Hippiepoet]

I think that old saying,"With friend's like these, who needs enemies?", would apply right the fuck here.

[The Diabolical Mr. Lieman]

Yep. Thats fucked up. Brings a whole new meaning to enabler. :)

I've had two friends commit suicide, so sure, it irks me when I hear about motherfuckers being emotional, and running their dicksuckers about suicide. And there are times I call bullshit too, one in particular with my ex, where I told her to swallow a bottle of pills and threw it at her.

DIfference is I knew she was full of shit, and had she began to swallow them, I wouldve taken them immediately away from her.

Yeah. Dude deserves what he gets.

[gprime]

I'm going to have to disagree with the rest of you. It is undoubtedly true that he was either evil, or made a poor judgement call, or both. And it may well have been true that without him having given her the gun, she would still be here today. But what it comes down to in my mind is a question of personal responsibility. Nobody forced her to pull the trigger. She did it of her own volition, fully understanding that it would kill her. At the very worst, I would classify this as euthenasia, which I also see as fully legitimate. Therefore, I find the jury decision obscene, and spit once again on the American justice system.

[Jaded]

What got me was the fact that he reloaded the gun. Sounds to me like he was just a bit too anxious. If he was just calling her bluff....after she failed the first time he probably should have taken some time to rethink the whole thing.

[gprime]

What got me was the fact that he reloaded the gun. Sounds to me like he was just a bit too anxious. If he was just calling her bluff....after she failed the first time he probably should have taken some time to rethink the whole thing.
I don't disagree that he either had malice aforethought or was an idiot. But I don't believe either would justify punishing him for something that was ultimately the woman's choice. He didn't pull the trigger, and that is where the responsibility is determined.

[Miss. Hill]

I told my Mom the other day, who is always in depressed mode, and whining about it, to off herself already. I said the guns in the safe as well as the bullets. I know she would never do it, she's to selfish and vain! She laughed at me told me to go to hell. ( I do love her very much, FYI)

I agree the reloading is what makes him guilty as well as handing her the gun loaded. Suggestion of "just off yourself already" and handing her a loaded gun and reloading are two different things. The difference between guilty and innocent.