Mo. man acquitted in friend's suicide

Weird case from St. Louis County, where two friends made a suicide pact and went to a conservation area to carry it out in 2008. Jacob Runge allegedly test-fired the gun and then handed it to his friend, Alex Harkins, who killed himself. Runge changed his mind, though, and didn't kill himself, the P-D reports. He was charged after he later led Harkins' parents to the body. Today, Runge has been cleared voluntary manslaughter and armed criminal action charges.

Comments

[The Weasel (Pat)]

If someone else does it, we cant exactly call it suicide, now can we?

[George]

Someone else didn't do it.

"Jacob Runge allegedly test-fired the gun and then handed it to his friend, Alex Harkins, who killed himself."

Read more closely. True these aren't facts, but I don't think a murder is any more likely than a suicide in this particular case.

[Heezy]

A chargeable offense fails to come to mind here. Civil liability could be a different story.

[The Weasel (Pat)]

Its suicide when you kill yourself, and its homocide when you kill someone else.

That was my point.