[HPforGrownups] Re: Expelling Draco?

[T.M. Sommers]

No: HPFGUIDX 70026

Sabrina wrote:
>In a message dated 7/10/03 12:40:58 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>tms2 at mail.ptd.net writes:
> 
> I think a competent prosecutor might be able to persuade a jury
> that Malfoy had murderous intent.  At the very least he was
> guilty of assault with a magical weapon.
> 
> Me:
> But that would be seen a bit different in the WW, wouldn't it? Of course,
> for us a wand is a potential weapon that we are weary of because we have
> seen that you can kill someone with it.
> But for wizards it's an everyday tool. Most of the time (outside of school)
> they use it for cooking, cleaning and I don't know what else.

Anything capable of causing injury, even if that is not its 
primary or usual purpose, can be a deadly weapon in the eyes of 
the law.  It depends on how it is used.  A baseball bat, for 
instance, is usually just an implement used to play a game, but 
if it is swung at someone's head, it becomes a weapon.

> That should be enough
> for at least a couple of years in chokey.  And we do not know
> what spell Malfoy used.  You can be convicted of attempted murder
> for putting an unloaded gun to someone's head and pulling the
> trigger, so using a non-fatal curse on someone could result in a
> conviction for attempted murder if there was intent to kill.
> 
> Me:
> I think this is were we have a difference in thinking. You see the wand as a
> gun that certainly is something used for killing/hurting (let's not get into
> a pro/contra gun discussion, please) while I saw Malfoy's use more like a
> normal schoolboy fight, perhaps like taking a swing at Harry (and missing).

That he missed is no excuse; that is the purpose of criminalizing 
attempts.  That he is a schoolboy does not immunize him from the law.

> Again, the wand, like hands (that can also be used to harm someone) is
> mainly used for other things and therefore IMHO not comparable to a gun.

It was being used as a weapon, so, legally, it is a weapon. 
Here, for example, is the definition of "deadly weapon" in the 
New Jersey criminal code: '"Deadly weapon" means any firearm or 
other weapon, device, instrument, material or substance, whether 
animate or inanimate, which in the manner it is used or is 
intended to be used, is known to be capable of producing death or 
serious bodily injury or which in the manner it is fashioned 
would lead the victim reasonably to believe it to be capable of 
producing death or serious bodily injury'.  NJSA 2C:11-1(c).

http://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/om_isapi.dll?clientID=384468&Depth=2&depth=2&expandheadings=on&headingswithhits=on&hitsperheading=on&infobase=statutes.nfo&record={1415}&softpage=Doc_Frame_PG42

> Remember, also, that he set a poisonous snake on Harry in the
> dueling club, in front of witnesses.
> 
> Me:
> And probably at the instruction of Snape and in the presence of at least one
> competent teacher. BTW, how do you know it was posionous?

P. 194 of the US edition: the snake "raised itself, fangs 
exposed, poised to strike."  Non-poisonous snakes don't have fangs.

> I certainly am no fan of Draco but you can also go abit over the top with a
> attitude to condemn everybody who isn't a proverbial saint.

Draco isn't close to being a saint.