Making new law...
...probably should not happen in a courtroom.
But the Colin Gray case did just that. He was found guilty on 27 charges including second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter related to the school shooting at Apalachee High School, where the alleged shooter was his son, Colt Gray.
Then it gets weird. Prosecution relied on a law passed after the Georgia Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Justin Ross Harris for hot car death of his son Cooper Harris, giving clear guidance to prosecutors and courts regarding the consequences of parents who cause their children serious harm or death, It has also become common over the last few decades for legislatures to append a section on legislative intent to laws they pass. This is lazy. If they cannot write a law that clearly addresses their intent, then maybe they are in the wrong job. Consequently, with the Colin Gray case, prosecution argued this law, as written, could readily be extended to others' children regardless of intent, stated or otherwise.
Much of the case hinged on the (often emotional) arguments about a father giving serious firepower to a son who was clearly suffering from serious emotional and mental issues, some directly related to glorification of school shooters. This approach was distanced from "safe storage," a concept that the City of Savanah had tried to codify but which was rejected at the state level, even though what was easily proved is that Colin Gray bought a gun and that gun fired the bullets at Apalachee High.
What hasn't been proven, in a court of law, and beyond any reasonable doubt, is who pulled the trigger. Now we all know who did, but at this point, legally, that is only an allegation. Remember O.J.? After he got off on murder charges in criminal court, well, he was not a murderer, and you really could not call him that. After his civil conviction, you could. That's because you can't call someone a murderer until it has been adjudicated. Colt Gray has not had his day in court, so you cannot logically (legally) say that Colin Gray aided his son in murdering anyone.
When the courts do not respect the law, why should anyone? Certainly they should do the right thing, but they must also do that thing the right way. In this case they failed.
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