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Teenager Tries To Hire Hitman Via Facebook
An anonymous reader writes "Hiring a hitman can cost a pretty penny these days. Why buy an ad in the classifieds section when you can simply use Facebook? Of course, you may end up having to face 11 to 22 years in prison, but that's worth the risk, right? That's what happened to 19-year-old Corey C. Adams of Pennsylvania. Last June, Adams' 20-year-old victim said after she left a party, he jumped into her car and raped her. She went to police. He went to Facebook. Specifically, his status update read: 'I got 500 on a girls head who wants that bread? Hit me up anyway possible.'"
Boy meetsgGirl, boy rapes girl, and tries to have her killed... Wait, I don't think I saw that on the Sopranos... What a douchebag!
"Ones and zeros were everywhere. I even think I saw a two!" - Bender
I wonder how much amusement his fellow inmates will have with the phrase "hit me up anyway possible"?
Because a rapist used Facebook, it's news for computer geeks? I'm actually kind of offended.
The guy sounds a complete douche but I'm not so sure posting a status update could be considered the same thing as "tried to hire a hitman". It sounds more like the usual passive aggressive comments shared between friends without realising that the police will take it completely seriously and charge you with it. The lesson is, as is ever more clear each day, expect your social network trawled for evidence if you're ever in trouble and take heed of privacy settings. I wonder what would have been made of it had his status update been completely locked to friends only?
jaymz
Are people taking his post seriously because he is accused of raping the girl first? For this to have been legit he'd first need to have hitmen as friends on Facebook, and second he'd have to have pursued it. There are millions of people who say stupid things on Facebook that aren't taken in the same context. I have seen many more explicit posts on Facebook and not one was taken seriously by anyone.
This clearly called for Craigs List not Facebook.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Would have probably been cheaper than a $500 hitman and would have had fewer legal entanglements than sexual assault.
Rape isn't about sex.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
IANAL, but I did run a Private Investigation firm. A lot of people are in jail because they didn't understand the law about this.
If you exchange anything of value under the pretense of hiring a hitman, then you are guilty of consipiracy to commit murder. For all intents and purposes, the ability or even the intent of the person you "hire" is not relevant, nor is the amount of total value of the exchange. Just like robbing a bank with a gun counts even if the gun was fake/had no bullets/etc.
Merely saying "I wish someone would kill " is a weaker version of "I will give someone $500 to kill " - solicitation. This is where you get into a slipperly slope of how much that resembles an agreement. For instance, if a 9 year says "I will give you a trillion dollars to kill ", that is not very credible. But if a mafia godfather with a track record of hiring killers and rewarding them merely says "Person is annoying me", that might be sufficient.
The real trouble comes when you exchange something of value. I was working a case once where someone was in prison for conspiracy because they asked someone to kill their girlfriend. The "hitman" asked for $1500. The guy told him he was broke. The "hitman" said "yeah, I could do it for free but I would have to leave town." So the person gave him $15 for bus fare. That was enough to show a contract. It turned out his hitman was an undercover cop. Now the guy is serving 15 years.
So in Facebook, if you said "I will be your neighbor in farmville if you kill her", and someone accepts that gift, that would be the same as you paying some stranger $10k.