Death of a courier

[Gattopardo]

Saw this on another forum but no mention here.

This from moving target

http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article/michael-bryant-to-publish-book-about-28-seconds-that-led-to-death-of-darcy-allan-sheppard

Am lost for words.

[Charlotte]

Bloody hell.  Just bloody hell.

[Jaded]

Isn't this from several years ago?

and the driver's defence was that he thought he was being attacked by a madman who grabbed at him in his car?

[Cudzoziemiec]

It happened last year, I think, and I seem to remember something like that as the driver's defence.

In fact, I don't understand why the courier grabbed on to the car, but that's by the by. It doesn't explain why the driver drove into him in the first place. It sounds to me like that was a deliberate move on the part of Bryant (why?), but maybe I'm reading too much into it. In which case the appropriate charge would not be “criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death” but either murder or whatever the technical term would be for "assault which was not intended to kill but was clearly going to lead to at least serious injuries and in fact did kill" (manslaughter?).

But petitioning Penguin not to publish the book? No, I think they should publish it. Let him explain what was going through his mind at the time and since. It's not often we get psychological insights into such moments, particularly connected with road deaths. How much we can trust it I don't know, but even a lie tells us something.

[CamPhil]

It happened last year, I think, and I seem to remember something like that as the driver's defence.

The murderer made sure we'd never hear the witness for the prosecution.
Aren't Penguin bound by the laws preventing profit from proceeds of criminal activity?

[nicknack]

If he didn't get prosecuted then, presumably, there was no criminal activity.

[CamPhil]

Which just rewards corruption - if you pay your mate who was promoted into your old job on your retirement enough, you can do no wrong.

It stinks that a murderer can walk free without even facing trial, despite his crime being caught on video.

But at least the lack of any prosecution at all does leave the way open for him to be arrested and tried elsewhere, under international law.

[Buffalo Bill]

It happened last year, I think, and I seem to remember something like that as the driver's defence.

In fact, I don't understand why the courier grabbed on to the car, but that's by the by. It doesn't explain why the driver drove into him in the first place. It sounds to me like that was a deliberate move on the part of Bryant (why?), but maybe I'm reading too much into it. In which case the appropriate charge would not be “criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death” but either murder or whatever the technical term would be for "assault which was not intended to kill but was clearly going to lead to at least serious injuries and in fact did kill" (manslaughter?).

But petitioning Penguin not to publish the book? No, I think they should publish it. Let him explain what was going through his mind at the time and since. It's not often we get psychological insights into such moments, particularly connected with road deaths. How much we can trust it I don't know, but even a lie tells us something.

I think the reason that it doesn't sit well with me is that Bryant engaged a PR company, and, perhaps coincidentally, there then followed a number of stories in the press about Sheppard's 'troubled' character, his previous misdemeanours, the level of alcohol in his blood at the time of his death etc etc.

For Bryant then to have had the charges dropped looked like the establishment protecting one of their own.  I emphasise 'looked like'.  And it also meant that the evidence against Bryant was never heard in court, so, if you like, Sheppard was silenced, whereas Bryant is now having his say again, whilst Sheppard remains silent.  It looks bad.  If he was giving all of the profits away, maybe I might feel differently.  I take the point that it might be useful to hear his side of the story, but we have kind of heard it already.  The car stalled, then jerked forward, hitting Sheppard hard enough to knock Sheppard onto the bonnet, then Bryant got frightened drove off scared and so on.

[gordon taylor]

There was something very similar in Adelaide eight years ago:

Big cheese legal guy runs over and kills cyclist, fails to stop but goes home and starts phoning legal pals and family alibis.

Getting a prosecution took years (fine: $3000) and he's recently been absolved from any professional misconduct charge.

http://www.woj.com.au/2010/03/18/wheels-of-justice-statement-has-justice-really-been-seen-to-be-done/

 

[Cudzoziemiec]

The quote from the Penguin person on Moving Target, in the OP, gave me the impression this book was to be far more than just a recount of how it happened.

“What really attracted me to this book was the unflinching description of one man’s descent into a kind of hell,” a spokesperson for Penguin, who plan to publish the book, said, with no apparent sense of irony. “He has been humbled by what happened, but more important, wants to rededicate himself to public service and to overhaul the justice system. And he has never lost sight of the fact that a man died.” Penguin is reported to say that a portion of any book proceeds will go to the Pine River Foundation for adolescent mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Leads me to expect some kind of psychological insight, from his own point of view, into the effects on him afterwards - some way of dealing with guilt, even. But of course, it's impossible to say without reading the book, and the purpose of the Penguin spokesperson saying that is to sell the book. Even so, I find the book far less of a problem than the original verdict and the way in which it appears to have been reached, not to mention how the "accident" happened in the first place.

[RJ]

Petition Penguin

[andygates]

You know, I'd quite like to read an account of the self-justification of murderous douchbaggery -- it'd probably read like American Psycho, only without the funny bits.

I don't petition for book bans.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Well said, Andy. Though I'm not sure I'd read it myself, I don't think we should stop others doing so.

[RJ]

I don't petition for book bans.

Well yes - I know what you mean.  Not really a ban - just make him find another publisher.  This doesn't deserve the backing of a major like Penguin - and the "royalties to charity" line does not wash.

[EdinburghFixed]

I can't get that worked up over it because it's not happening here. The other side of the pond is a wasteland in such fundamental ways that a man publishing a book about his killing of another man hardly raises an eyebrow.

[Gandalf]

I wish I could be so unpeturbed by what happens over the pond, but it seems to me that the we eventually follow suit.