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This is a genuine question.

I have a hard time with this. My righteous side wants him to face an appropriate sentence, but my pessimistic side thinks this might have set a great example for CEOs to always maintain a level of humanity or face unforseen consequences.

P.S. this topic is highly controversial and I want actual opinions so let's be civil.

And if you're a mod, delete this if the post is inappropriate or if it gets too heated.

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[-] TommySoda@lemmy.world 276 points 1 week ago

If he gets caught, then I'd say yes. Murder should be treated as murder regardless of what the reason is. Making exceptions is never a good idea.

I just hope he doesn't get caught.

[-] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 181 points 1 week ago

Then all of the healthcare companies that allow people to die because they will not cover them need to be prosecuted, every executive, every decision maker.

[-] Glide@lemmy.ca 99 points 1 week ago

Don't threaten me with a good time.

[-] FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world 44 points 1 week ago

Trinity: what is he doing?

Morpheus: he's beginning to believe..

[-] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.

CS Lewis - Screwtape Letters (preface)

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[-] TerkErJerbs@lemm.ee 111 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Brian Thompson and his co-workers murder hundreds of thousands of people with systemic neglect, spreadsheets, and lawyers. They murder in broad daylight, during business hours. And yet they're comfortable, well paid, successful people who will never see a day in jail. What they're doing isn't even considered a crime.

I hope he doesn't get caught, also. Because the same laws that protect those fucking ghouls will crush him for bringing attention to the grift.

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[-] Tinidril@midwest.social 47 points 1 week ago

Making exceptions is never a good idea.

Why not? The whole reason we have judicial discretion is that every crime departs from the platonic ideal in one way or another.

The working class has been losing a class war for decades without ever properly noticing that it was happening. Working Americans have been dying in that war, and now someone struck back.

I'll be sold on the "no exceptions" ideal when we haul in the corporate murderers alongside the people who fought back.

Jury nullification is the other acceptable option.

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[-] Makeshift@sh.itjust.works 172 points 1 week ago

Maybe get a fine for .0005% of their net worth. You know, so they don’t do it again.

That’s how it works, right?

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[-] originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee 161 points 1 week ago

This is a good question from the wrong angle. This event is cathartic for many people because the ultra rich who ruin countless lives never get punished. When they see “consequences” it’s a golden parachute. This event is frustrating because the media, legal, and security apparatuses expect us to treat this assassination as a grave act, but actively normalize the acts of harm Thompson and other leaders like him commit every day.

This event is revealing in stark terms the divide between the elite and the average person. Should murderers be prosecuted? Sure - in a world where justice and the rule of law matter for everyone equally. Doesn’t feel like we live in that world.

[-] frog_brawler@lemmy.world 44 points 1 week ago

If murderers got prosecuted equally this CEO should have had a day in court years ago.

[-] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 1 points 6 days ago

He’s been climbing the ladder at United for 20 years. Many years ago indeed.

🎵🎶 jury nullification 🎵🎶

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[-] Chainweasel@lemmy.world 135 points 1 week ago

Do you want to see the people who killed Osama Bin Laden prosecuted?
Because the United Heath CEO killed far more people, including many more children, than Bin Laden did on 9/11.

[-] Poots@mander.xyz 108 points 1 week ago

Why is violence legal when the government does it but not for regular people who have exhausted their peaceful options? Escalation of force gets justified all the time for cops and waging wars.

[-] PostingInPublic@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago

The monopoly on the use of force is quite the important part of having a state at all. If a state doesn't have that, it descends into anarchy (the bad kind, with warlords and gangs). The US is very exceptional in this case as it has in its constitution the provision that such gangs (militia) are allowed, even desirable.

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[-] Fedizen@lemmy.world 63 points 1 week ago

If he's caught we should elect him president so he doesn't have to go to jail.

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[-] Zier@fedia.io 62 points 1 week ago

Sometimes people provide a public service to humanity is very dark ways. Do not turn this guy in.

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[-] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 60 points 1 week ago

Yes, hell yes.

Get this man in a court room. Let the prosecutors spend weeks trying to find a jury where no one (or any of their relatives and friends) has been fucked over for life because of shitty insurance.

Let them talk about how unstoppable, determined, and committed the defendant was.

And then have the jury nullify the case.

It would be a good day to be alive.

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[-] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 55 points 1 week ago

If the CEOs that are responsible for price gouging and cutting services in the American health insurance system aren’t held responsible than this guy shouldn’t be either.

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[-] leadore@lemmy.world 52 points 1 week ago

Jury selection question to weed out biased jurors: "Have you ever had a claim that was unfairly denied?"

Weeks later: "We have been unable to find enough jurors to try the case."

[-] dgmib@lemmy.world 50 points 1 week ago

I want to see a trial.

I also want to start a go fund me for his or her legal defence find.

I’d love to see a well funded law firm make the argument that the shooter acted in defence of self and others and drag all of UHC bullshit under a very large and uncomfortable deposition microscope to prove the CEO was responsible for letting people die.

Maybe we could even start putting these health insurance CEOs on trial for all the wrongful deaths they’re causing without needing someone to take justice into their own hands first.

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[-] inv3r510n@lemmy.world 47 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Absofuckinglutely not. I want him to never be found and continue to off health insurance CEOs one by one until we get universal healthcare like the rest of the developed world. And after he’s through with them there’s a whole list of other rich assholes that the world would be better off without, starting with the defense contractors.

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 47 points 1 week ago

No. I hope he's never found. I hope it destroys the careers of all the cops and politicians blowing shitloads of resources looking for him while they barely look at crimes against normal people. I hope all these insurance executives wake up in a cold sweat every night worrying that they'll be next. That's what's best for the world.

[-] Railcar8095@lemm.ee 46 points 1 week ago

Yes. I want the story of how United screwed them and their loves ones. I want thousands of families screwed by United to go as witness and tell their stories.

And hopefully the jury will find any evidence inconclusive.

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[-] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 44 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I'd like the CEO prosecuted post-mortem, and any charges transmitted equally to any and all other policy-makers at UHC.

[-] tiefling 43 points 1 week ago

Murderer? What murderer? The CEO tripped while carrying a gun and accidentally shot himself twice in the back 🤫

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[-] veniasilente@lemm.ee 43 points 1 week ago

Theoretically: no.

In practice, in the world we're living in? Hell no.

Any attempt to prosecute the killer would simply add to the advantage the ruling class already have, and be basically an injustice by definition no matter how "by the book" could it have been approached in the otherwise wondrful and illusory world of theory.

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[-] lath@lemmy.world 41 points 1 week ago

Yes, in a world where judges can't be bought and criminals don't get Epstein'd.

I want fair justice as much fair justice can be attained by humanity. But in that kind of world, this type of murderer wouldn't exist in the first place.

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[-] nimble 39 points 1 week ago

If he gets caught, yes. I want to believe in the process of our law. And part of our laws support jury nullification. Now whether or not i would personally vote to convict/nullify is something I've been reflecting on and I'm not sure how i would vote. I do believe murder is wrong, but im also interested to know the actual data behind how many people died because claims were denied by united health group. We have two murderers, one who blatantly broke the law and one who did it within the law to make 22 billion in profit in 2023. How many people died to make that profit? And do those deaths make murder right? Idk.

[-] aaron@lemm.ee 33 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I just watched a felon with outstanding felony cases get elected president. I don't so much believe in the process of our law.

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[-] luciferofastora@lemmy.zip 37 points 1 week ago

Hear me out before you rage:

In theory? I believe that killings warrant investigation, prosecution and trial, no matter their intention, though the intention should factor into the result of the process. I want him to be prosecuted with the same intensity as any other killing would be, and if found, given a fair trial, convicted for whatever charge applies, as would be proper for a functioning judicial system. But then I'd want to see him pardoned as political expression of his popular support (and the fact that his victim was part of a deeply inhuman complex of exploitation).

In practice? I hope they never find him. Appropriate intensity of investigation? Orderly arrest? Fair treatment as prisoner? Fair trial? Fair charges? Fair conviction? Fat chance. Pardoned? Not even a chance.

I want him to go without punishment more than I want to hope for a fair process, and I couldn't believe in the latter in any case.

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[-] LambeauLeap@sopuli.xyz 36 points 1 week ago

No. I hope he is never found

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[-] sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 34 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Nope.

If Trump can get alway with almost all of his bullshit, if the Supreme Court can just hurr durr away a hundred + years of legal precedent, then this whole system is bullshit.

Anybody that is charge of or oversees the systemic application of violence toward great numbers of people, who is legally allowed to do so, in a system where the common person has 0 chance of ever altering this system to police itself and actually enact justice by preventing said person from doing that and prosecuting them for their crimes against the people...

Anyone in such a position should be afraid, should keep suffering consequences until theyfinally figure out that they need to acquiesce to a reformation of the system, need to stop fucking over millions for the grotesque enrichment of thousands.

When the game is rigged against you, play by your own rules, otherwise you guarantee your own defeat.

[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 34 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You're asking the wrong question.

This is a story about two people. One committed an enormous act of violence and another person shot that person.

The question is: should the CEO have been prosecuted for his violent crimes?

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[-] crawancon@lemm.ee 34 points 1 week ago

Id like to see trump face ramifications before this guy.

[-] SparrowHawk@feddit.it 33 points 1 week ago

If they prosecute healthcare CEO's first then yeah i'd be ok with it

[-] rmuk@feddit.uk 33 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

An answer to a different question, but if he gets caught I hope that the media gives him the same treatment as school shooters; plastering his image everywhere, distributing his manifesto and transforming him into an antihero.

Update: It's happening!

[-] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 32 points 1 week ago

No. He did the right thing.

[-] stiephelando@discuss.tchncs.de 32 points 1 week ago

Yes, in a rule-of-law state a fair trial with a just outcome is mandatory. You can't just go around and kill people. If he lost a loved one to unfair practices of the insurance, that needs to be taken into account during trial.

The best example for a justice system working is a case we had in Germany in the 70s. A child rapist and murderer was shot in court by the mother during trial. She was then prosecuted but didn't have to go to jail due to the circumstances of the case. Her being tried and prosecuted means the case was closed without any loophole having to be used.

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[-] AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 32 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Yes, and I want him found innocent by a jury of his peers.

But we all know the police are going to shoot him 17 times in the back in self defense if they find him

[-] BigBenis@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago

No, I hope they never find him.

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[-] Maeve@kbin.earth 31 points 1 week ago

I want the executives, boards, and shareholders that effectively murder millions every year to be prosecuted.

[-] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 30 points 1 week ago

no.

I don't even care about his motives.

only reason why, that CEO jackass never allowed thousands if not millions of his customers to defend their right to care. the system he built, maintained, and expanded denied people their justice.

for that reason, and that reason alone, he and his family should have their justice denied.

[-] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 1 week ago

I know the mods on lemmy.world are deleting posts educating US citizens on their legal right to nullification if they're appointed to a jury, but I'll say it anyway. You can simply just refuse to find someone guilty, even if there's every bit of evidence and a video recorded confession.

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[-] SkyNTP@lemmy.ml 29 points 1 week ago

There is no justice in the US right now. Why bother holding this person accountable when we can't even hold the highest position in the land accountable for their crimes. The social fabric is unraveling.

[-] Cossty@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago

No, I just want to shake hands with this guy.

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[-] 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago

I think if they catch him they sort of have to. It's up to the police to drag their heels investigating if they want to avoid that.

It will be interesting to see if jury nullification comes into play if he gets caught and there is a trial. Would at least 1/12 jurors refuse to convict despite the law? The main facebook post about the CEO's death has a 26-1 ratio of laughing emoji to crying emoji...

[-] Red_October@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago

This is one of those cases just begging for Jury Nullification.

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this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2024
433 points (100.0% liked)

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