Gabby Petito

Rodderz

Rodderz

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I saw a few reports on BBC News website but, to be blunt, I didn't really understand why it was being given any profile over here. There must be loads of ongoing murder cases in the USA all the time so why the interest in this one? Especially when it seems pretty obvious the boyfriend did away with her. Doesn't seem much else to say.
 
Rodderz said:
Certainly isn't what I'm implying. It's more so because it's a pretty interesting case!
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Is it? It seems pretty clear what happened. The only real wrinkles in it are that they pushed themselves as "vanlife" "influencers" (to not much success) and the role of his family afterward.

I thought this was interesting when it seemed like it might be a "zone of death" case (there's a small part of Yellowstone National Park reasonably near where this happened in which a Constitutional loophole makes it legally impossible to try someone for a crime committed there), which would have been an incredible international sensation.

But alas, not the case. It's tragic and ugly, but it is an oft-repeated road driven yet again.
 
I’ve been keeping tabs on bits of it like - I seen they found her body and I’ve seen some of the bodycam footage. Clear as day he done it. Is he still on the run?
 
Raker said:
I’ve been keeping tabs on bits of it like - I seen they found her body and I’ve seen some of the bodycam footage. Clear as day he done it. Is he still on the run?
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He's missing, been gone a while. RIP Gabby, I hope they catch up with that piece of shit soon so there can be justice.
 
Seen a few stories about it and, as one of the other posters said, I'm a bit confused why it's getting so much coverage over here but I hope he gets picked up soon so the family can have some sort of explanation. It said it all when his parents said he'd disappeared while her parents said he was in hiding.
 
Raker said:
Is he still not wanted atm? think the popularity of the case will make it very hard for him to stay off the grid
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He is. It's easier than usual (at least by 21st century standards), though, because wearing masks in public isn't weird right now.

What's interesting about this case is largely some of its legal implications. They're probably boring to non-lawyers, but - for one example - the fact that his parents have quite clearly been helping him get away seems crazy and criminal to a lot of people until someone points out that the Florida statute covering accessory-after-the-fact specifically exempts parents of suspects from criminal liability. I don't really know why non-lawyers ("humans") would really be interested in this one, though, except that these folks blasted themselves all over social media so there's a lot of material for the bored and otherwise idle to pore through and feel purposeful and smart as amateur detectives.
 
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SYB_DC said:
He is. It's easier than usual (at least by 21st century standards), though, because wearing masks in public isn't weird right now.

What's interesting about this case is largely some of its legal implications. They're probably boring to non-lawyers, but - for one example - the fact that his parents have quite clearly been helping him get away seems crazy and criminal to a lot of people until someone points out that the Florida statute covering accessory-after-the-fact specifically exempts parents of suspects from criminal liability. I don't really know why non-lawyers ("humans") would really be interested in this one, though, except that these folks blasted themselves all over social media so there's a lot of material for the bored and otherwise idle to pore through and feel purposeful and smart as amateur detectives.
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The whole thing reeks to me like. From him to the family and then the police. Seems like with the help of the media it’s been turned into an international circus
 
SYB_DC said:
He is. It's easier than usual (at least by 21st century standards), though, because wearing masks in public isn't weird right now.

What's interesting about this case is largely some of its legal implications. They're probably boring to non-lawyers, but - for one example - the fact that his parents have quite clearly been helping him get away seems crazy and criminal to a lot of people until someone points out that the Florida statute covering accessory-after-the-fact specifically exempts parents of suspects from criminal liability.
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That's absolute madness to me. To choose not to prosecute parents for that kind of behaviour is one thing but to exempt them from prosecution is quite another.
 
Raker said:
Agreed - bonkers to not want him in immediately, especially after the bodycam footage
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They didn't have a body at that point. There wasn't enough to legally arrest him at that point: there's no probable cause when you can't say for sure a crime was committed, much less have probable cause to arrest a specific person for it.

That's largely changed now, of course.
 
SYB_DC said:
Is it? It seems pretty clear what happened. The only real wrinkles in it are that they pushed themselves as "vanlife" "influencers" (to not much success) and the role of his family afterward.

I thought this was interesting when it seemed like it might be a "zone of death" case (there's a small part of Yellowstone National Park reasonably near where this happened in which a Constitutional loophole makes it legally impossible to try someone for a crime committed there), which would have been an incredible international sensation.

But alas, not the case. It's tragic and ugly, but it is an oft-repeated road driven yet again.
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I've never heard of that before, definitely some reading into that to be done, sounds mental!
 
The Truth said:
That's absolute madness to me. To choose not to prosecute parents for that kind of behaviour is one thing but to exempt them from prosecution is quite another.
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That's Florida for you. That type of exception is actually reasonably common in state laws in the South.

What's interesting legally is that because he committed the crime in Wyoming and they possibly helped him flee in Florida, they might have exposure under the federal accessory statute, which doesn't have that exception. I say "interesting" because it's not clear that them helping him only after he arrived in Florida and only helping him within Florida would be a federal offense as it's wholly within one state (even if the underlying crime was in another state). Now if they knowingly helped him flee to another state or leave the country, they're on the hook with the FBI and DOJ.
Rodderz said:
I've never heard of that before, definitely some reading into that to be done, sounds mental!
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It's fantastic. There's a great law review article on it, but some nutter also wrote a short (fictional) story about it that was published online fairly recently.
 
SYB_DC said:
That's Florida for you. That type of exception is actually reasonably common in state laws in the South.

What's interesting legally is that because he committed the crime in Wyoming and they possibly helped him flee in Florida, they might have exposure under the federal accessory statute, which doesn't have that exception. I say "interesting" because it's not clear that them helping him only after he arrived in Florida and only helping him within Florida would be a federal offense as it's wholly within one state (even if the underlying crime was in another state). Now if they knowingly helped him flee to another state or leave the country, they're on the hook with the FBI and DOJ.
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A lad I work with is married to an American so he's spent quite a lot of time over there and he's adamant that Floridians are the stupidest people on earth.

That's for that mate, all very interesting to me and I'm not a lawyer!
 

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