My Favourite Crime, Manslaughter

My favourite crime is manslaughter. Manslaughter is a type of murder known as culpable murder. Manslaughter is the slaying of human beings or the "destruction of men". According to law, it is the unlawful killing of a man, either in negligence or incidentally to the commission of some unlawful act, but without specific malice, or upon a sudden excitement of anger. Anyone who commits manslaughter is accused of an indictable offence and can be sentenced to the maximum of life imprisonment or the minimum of four years, and in which case may be trialed by judge or jury.


Crown drops St. John's manslaughter case against student

Module body
Thu Oct 2, 9:32 AM


What's this ST..JOHNS (CBC) - A young St. John's man was cleared of wrongdoing Thursday in the stabbing death of his brother two years ago. Ilir Mustafa, 20, was charged with manslaughter in 2006, after his brother, Atdhe Mustafa, 27, was stabbed in the family home. He later died in hospital.
But in Newfoundland Supreme Court on Thursday, the Crown said it would not present evidence in the case and agreed with the defence that Mustafa was acting in self-defence in a violent struggle with his estranged brother.
"The Crown did a critical analysis of the case and determined that self-defence was a viable matter for the accused," said prosecutor Elizabeth Ivany.
Mustafa, who continues to live with his family in St. John's, did not comment after the proceeding. He is expected to return to science studies at Memorial University this winter.
Justice Phonse Faour acquitted Mustafa, and then told him he was a free man. Mustafa showed little emotion during the proceeding of when he left the court.
Notes presented to the Crown by defence lawyers Bill Collins and Michael King showed that Atdhe Mustafa assaulted his younger brother during a confrontation that also involved other family members.
Police notes showed "the victim grabbed [Ilir Mustafa] by the head and beat him up by banging his head into the victim's knee."
Ilir Mustafa told the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary that his brother knocked him out.
The defence argued that Mustafa believed he would be killed or severely injured if he didn't defend himself.
The Mustafa family had fled Kosovo in 1999. Atdhe Mustafa joined the family later and, according to the defence, his behaviour was often violent.
Outside the court, Collins described Atdhe Mustafa as another casualty of the Kosovo war.
He said Adthe Mustafa was abducted by militia when he was 14 and spent five years living on the streets of Switzerland before he rejoined his family in St. John's.
"When he came back, he took control of the family," Collins told reporters.
"His views on how people should react was quite different from what was felt by other members of the family, who more or less have assimilated into Canadian ways."


http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cbc/081002/canada/stjohns_mustafa_cleared


Manslaughter verdict in B.C. country club killing

Last Updated: Saturday, November 8, 2008 4:36 PM ET Sasan Ansari, 29, has been found guilty of manslaughter in the death of Joshua Goos, who was stabbed in West Vancouver in May 2006. (CBC)
A B.C. Supreme Court jury has found a university law student guilty of manslaughter in a stabbing death outside a country club in West Vancouver more than two years ago.
Sasan Ansari, 29, had originally been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Joshua Goos, 27.
The victim was stabbed 30 times and found lying in the parking lot of the Hollyburn Country Club on May 23, 2006.
On Saturday, the jury found Ansari guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
During the trial, Ansari admitted stabbing Goos but he pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
The Crown said the slaying involved conflict over money that Ansari owed to Goos. Ansari testified last month that the two met outside the country club to discuss repayment of a $90,000 loan he received from Goos.
The court heard the meeting allegedly became violent when Goos lunged at Ansari with a knife. Ansari testified he pried the knife out of Goos's hand but he couldn't remember what happened next.
The court also heard Ansari and Goos were friends since Grade 7 and Goos had allegedly threatened to kill Ansari's boyfriend when a repayment amount could not be agreed upon.
Ansari's mother sobbed as her son was led into custody on the manslaughter conviction, and members of the victim's family sobbed as well.
Sentencing will take place Nov. 21.
A manslaughter conviction carries a potential life sentence with an upper limit of 10 years before parole is considered.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/11/08/bc-081108-ansari-verdict.html?ref=rss


Monday » November 10 » 2008

Ansari guilty of manslaughter in Hollyburn stabbing death

By Keith Fraser
The Province
Saturday, November 08, 2008
CREDIT: Friendster.com
Sasan Ansari was guilty of manslaughter, not second-degree murder, in the stabbing death of Josh Goos, a jury ruled Saturday.
VANCOUVER -- A man who fatally stabbed his friend but insisted he had no memory of the savage attack was found guilty of manslaughter -- but not guilty of the more serious charge of second-degree murder -- in a Vancouver jury trial Saturday.
Sasan Ansari, 29, admitted that he caused the stab wounds that led to the death of his friend, Josh Goos, but testified that he didn't remember the actual attack.
A forensic psychiatrist testifying for the defence told the jury that the UBC law student was likely in a "dissociative state" brought on by stress at the time of the slaying and suffered a bout of amnesia.
Goos, 27, suffered 30 knife wounds, six or seven of them potentially fatal, in the May 2006 assault outside West Vancouver's Hollyburn country club.
He was attacked while he sat in his Jeep Cherokee and fled the vehicle before being assaulted again and then dragged down the stairs outside the club.
The Crown argued that there had been increasing tensions between the two men over a $90,000 loan to Ansari from Goos.
The victim wanted his money back and, prosecutors argued, was rebuffed yet again during the night of the attack.
Ansari testified that Goos pulled a knife on him and that he grabbed the knife away from Goos but added he doesn't recall anything happening afterward until he woke up in his brother's home several hours later.
The Crown told the jury that Ansari was the one who brought the weapon to the fight because he was uncertain about what might happen.
Defence lawyer Peter Wilson told the jury that they had two choices -- either Ansari was in the dissociative state, an abnormal mental state rendering his actions involuntary, or he was a cold-blooded, psychopathic killer.
He said it was the defence position that the accused was the former, while the Crown took the latter position. But prosecutors said they did not take such a position.
The Crown said Ansari's testimony lacked credibility and said his explanations for what happened on the night of the slaying didn't make any sense.
One piece of evidence -- text messages from Ansari to Goos after the victim was dead about Ansari leaving his wallet in the Cherokee -- was particularly contentious.
The defence said it was proof Ansari was behaving in a normal way and had no recollection of the murder, but the Crown said it was clear Ansari was just trying to pretend as if nothing had happened.
The courtroom was packed most days during the six-week trial. Family members of both the accused and the victim were present along with others, including a number of UBC law students.kfraser@theprovince.com
© The Vancouver Province 2008

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=2582b643-3e82-495f-8e7b-b6e1d8b9589f

**note: this was for a school project**