Talk:Runyan v. State

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Reference to decision in BAD ELK. The article says that the decision acquitted someone charged with killing a policeman; this is an error and far too simplistic. The Bad Elk case involved one Indian Reservation policeman who killed another Reservation policeman - both of them being Native Americans - who burst into his house, ostensibly to make an unwarranted arrest, this house being more than a day's ride from the nearest town. Bad Elk was at first convicted of first degree murder, that being the only guilty verdict available to the jury; the Supreme Court held that he should be re-tried with the jury given the option of a convicting him of the much less severe crime of manslaughter. Not an acquittal. However, the militia movement and similar fringe groups treat the Bad Elk decision, which they obviously have not read, as giving them complete immunity to kill a policeman virtually at whim. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sussmanbern (talk • contribs) 00:32, 11 July 2010 (UTC)