Legal ramifications of 'The Negotiator'

[Hal 2000]

Basic plot of the movie for those who don't know; Samuel L. Jackson's character, a cop, is framed for murder; takes hostages in a high rise with the intention of proving his innocence; doesn't kill anyone himself, though one cop ends up dying during the ensuing chaos.

Question my friends and I discussed... Assuming it's shown that he's not guilty of the original murder, what would likely happen to this cop from a legal standpoint?? Or, better yet, what do OOT'ers THINK should happen??

[swede123]

I'd say he would be fired from the force at the very least. Possible probation. Civil suit from the family of the dude he got killed.

Swede

[Brainwalter]

Commendation.

[Loci]

blow job from the commissioner.

[James Boston]

I've actually had what sounds like the same discussion. The conclusion was that, even in efforts to prove your own innocense, taking hostages and setting fire to a federal building is still illegal.

Neibaum's (sp?) murder was clearly shown to be an assassination, so I doubt Danny is on the line for that one.

[daveymck]

Taking people hostage is a crime therfore trial and prison, his motives for doing the crime in this case are not good enough to allow him to get off scott fre.

[offTopic]

Danny pleads down to a lesser offense in exchange for his testimony against the corrupt cops. Part of the agreement is he is forced to retire, but keeps what's left of the pension [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]. He becomes a creative consultant to Dick Wolf.

BTW, I can't believe that movie has a 7.2 on imdb. I didn't think it was awful, but it certainly wasn't great, and definitely was a waste of an excellent cast.

BTW (part 2)...someone with a name like "Siobhan Fallon" should be hotter.

[PLOlover]

Gee from my Law and Order TV education it is obvious that since someone died during his felony of kidnapping, he is guilty of felony murder.

I mean, he's clearly guilty of kidnapping and stuff, right?

[The Armchair]

[ QUOTE ]
Gee from my Law and Order TV education it is obvious that since someone died during his felony of kidnapping, he is guilty of felony murder.

I mean, he's clearly guilty of kidnapping and stuff, right?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not that cut and dried. The causal connection has to be a bit stronger than that (which is saying something). The dudes who killed Neibaum were on an assassination mission, and that probably supercedes enough to relieve Danny of liability for the murder.

Imagine if a husband was caught cheating on his wife. Husband goes to the bank during the regular course of business to deposit a check. Wife, totally out of her gourd with jealous rage, goes after Husband to kill him. While Husband enters bank, but before Wife arrives, Felon does the whole "nobody move this is a robbery" schtick. Wife then walks through the door of the bank and unloads six bullets into Husband's chest. Not felony murder.

They were on an assassination mission because Danny lied over the radio and said that Niebaum was willing to name names. Danny is indirectly responsible for the death of Niebaum because he knew that the crooked cops would come after the Inspector.