Hacker News Reader

Comment by InTheArena | Hacker News Reader

These guys need to be thrown in jail for mass man-slaughter (I would ask for murder if they can prove that they knew the OxyCotin addiction risk early in the process).

The number of people who have lost their addiction fueled by this drug is astounding.

View on HN

In my old town, where opiate-related deaths have been doubling annually for years, it's considered second-degree murder to facilitate or participate in drug use that leads to someone overdosing.

And it's pretty common: A friend of mine who wasn't even around the person who overdosed, he had simply split an opiate purchase with him and then parted ways, was just arrested on 2nd degree murder charges within the last few months.

If my friend, who bore no ill will, gets sent to prison for murder, while the people who got him in his position (addicted to opiates after receiving prescribed pain medication) walk free, then that's textbook political corruption.

The victims won't press criminal charges because then, in the big bucks civil suit, no witnesses will testify. Why throw a couple patsies in jail when you can make millions on the litigation? This is the sad reality of the American legal system where money is the universal solution to all problems.

The victims can't press charges because they can't.

Prosecutors press charges.

The general public cannot, never has.

Interesting fact, but honest question: What's the usefulness of this distinction?

Private citizens cannot initiate a criminal proceeding.

They can SUE, but that's civil, not criminal.

It means that all criminal prosecution is political, or at least, politically-influenced.

It changes who makes the decision, which can be really important. Consider, for example, an abused spouse who ends up in the hospital but doesn’t want to press charges. The prosecutor may consider this when making the decision to prosecute, but it’s ultimately not up to the victim.

Also, prosecutors tend not to take on cases they aren't pretty sure about.

The standard in a criminal trial is much higher ("beyond a reasonable doubt") than in a civil trial ("preponderance of the evidence").

Basically, in a civil lawsuit, if it goes to the jury they only need to be 50.0000000001% convinced. In a criminal trial it's more like 95%.

Considering the number of lives devastated by OxyContin abuse, I'm surprised there hasn't been even one (successful?) attempt on the alleged perpetrators' lives.

Depraved Heart Murder

Reply on news.ycombinator.com