Criminal law, Politics, Society

House Majority Whip and Others Shot During Baseball Practice [UPDATED]
downloadI was in Fox studios in Washington this morning when the news came out of the shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise,  Rep. Roger Williams and others at a baseball field in Alexandria.  It was a horrific story made all the more surreal by the fact that I used to take my kids to that field when I lived in Alexandria.  This is a very peaceful area where families gather regularly near the Del Rey neighborhood.  There is still differing accounts of whether the shooter is dead.  If he is alive, there are specific federal offenses for this type of act that makes this a federal offense as well as a state offense. Such an assault on a member is deemed attempted assassination under the federal law due to the status of the victim (and likely motivation of the crime).

In addition to state charges, the shooter could be charged under 18 U.S.C. § 111 (Assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees),  and 18 U.S.C. § 351 (Congressional, Cabinet, and Supreme Court assassination, kidnapping, and assault).  Section 351 states:

(a)

Whoever kills any individual who is a Member of Congress or a Member-of-Congress-elect, a member of the executive branch of the Government who is the head, or a person nominated to be head during the pendency of such nomination, of a department listed in section 101 of title 5 or the second ranking official in such department, the Director (or a person nominated to be Director during the pendency of such nomination) or Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, the Director (or a person nominated to be Director during the pendency of such nomination) or Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, a major Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate (as defined in section 3056 of this title), or a Justice of the United States, as defined in section 451 of title 28, or a person nominated to be a Justice of the United States, during the pendency of such nomination, shall be punished as provided by sections 1111 and 1112 of this title.

(b)

Whoever kidnaps any individual designated in subsection (a) of this section shall be punished (1) by imprisonment for any term of years or for life, or (2) by death or imprisonment for any term of years or for life, if death results to such individual.

(c)

Whoever attempts to kill or kidnap any individual designated in subsection (a) of this section shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life.

(d)

If two or more persons conspire to kill or kidnap any individual designated in subsection (a) of this section and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be punished (1) by imprisonment for any term of years or for life, or (2) by death or imprisonment for any term of years or for life, if death results to such individual.

(e)

Whoever assaults any person designated in subsection (a) of this section shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the assault involved the use of a dangerous weapon, or personal injury results, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

(f)

If Federal investigative or prosecutive jurisdiction is asserted for a violation of this section, such assertion shall suspend the exercise of jurisdiction by a State or local authority, under any applicable State or local law, until Federal action is terminated.

(g)

Violations of this section shall be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistance may be requested from any Federal, State, or local agency, including the Army, Navy, and Air Force, any statute, rule, or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding.

(h)

In a prosecution for an offense under this section the Government need not prove that the defendant knew that the victim of the offense was an individual protected by this section.

(i)

There is extraterritorial jurisdiction over the conduct prohibited by this section.

 

The Justice Department would likely take the lead in any prosecution and the FBI would take the lead on the investigation.  On these facts, a life sentence would be likely if the shooter did survive.

The Congressional Baseball Game was scheduled for June 15 at Nationals Park. This is a wonderful tradition that members take very seriously. It is a way to break from the partisanship of the Hill — something needed this year more than ever before. It was shattered by this man.  Notably, I heard one member say that a man asked him a few minutes before if the players were Republicans or Democrats.  Another member said it was obvious that the shooter was there to kill as many Republicans as possible.

Of course, the shooting raises memories of the 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords outside of a Safeway supermarket in Tuscan.  Giffords survived with a gunshot wound to the head and twelve others were wounded.  Six were killed including  federal judge John Roll and a 9-year-old child, Christina-Taylor Green.  The shooter was Jared Lee Loughner, 22, who was later found incompetent to face three counts: for the attempt to assassinate Representative Giffords; attempting to kill two federal employees, her aides Ron Barber and Pamela Simon; murder and attempted murder.  In 2012, he was found competent and Loughner pleaded guilty to 19 counts. The plea avoided the death penalty but he was given seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years in prison without parole.

The shooter was reportedly shot and taken to the hospital.

97 thoughts on “House Majority Whip and Others Shot During Baseball Practice [UPDATED]”

  1. Low life forms in Politics, media and entertainment industry want this kind of attack. Conservatives have known for a long time that the rhetoric of the left has no place in America for Conservatives, they are deemed unworthy of representation in government. Bill D’Blasio would be a perfect example telling Conservatives that there is no place for them in New York City..

  2. Low life forms in the media and entertainment industry want this kind of attack

  4. I do have to wonder, what would posters to this blog have said, if the shooter had been a Republican and the victims Democrats?

    1. Jay S – would he have been a real Republican or a RINO and who did he/she shoot?

    2. Yes..the great counter..counter with an imaginary Republican shooting Democrats..how typical

    3. Well, rummage around the topical commentary penned when Dan White shot George Moscone and Harvey Milk. (I do not recall that White was an enrolled Republican, but he was on the right flank of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors). I don’t think you’re going to find columns by Wm. Rusher and James Jackson Kilpatrick saying Moscone and Milk had it coming to them. You’ll find a passing remark about White from George Will years later which read “San Francisco is vain about its tolerance, including the notion that Twinkies reduce moral accountability”.

  5. We hear how ISIS recruits are being ‘radicalized’ on line, right? What’s the difference between that and average US citizens being ‘radicalized’ by the constant negative vitriol being spewed 24/7 on cable news and their ‘normalization’ of political violence against Trump, his supporters and Republicans in general?

    1. TBob, The word “eliminate” comes to mind….Street name is “Cement job”

  6. A witness leaving the field before the shooting said a guy approached him and asked whether the people on the field were Democrats or Republicans. But…just a random shooting by a gun. Somehow we must stop guns from going out and firing themselves.

    1. FFS – according to Sen. Flake the perp had a rifle and lots of ammo.

  7. Thank the eye rolling hating negro Sen. Harris and her flock of haters. Stupid (_!_) cnt.

    Ban me cuz I so don’t care.
    People are shot because of the hate that this political sewer and all our Bloggo-In-Chief can do is site the law. Oh, and let us know that he was in the enemy’s camp at Fox.

    How about the question of what part did the disrespectful and hate charged line of questioning play in this persons call to action?

    Let’s all pray for a speedy recovery.

    1. Oh, Mitch and Chuck couldn’t get up and make remarks UNLESS THEY WERE PRE PREPARED SO THEY COULD READ THEM.

      Are you kidding me.

  8. So it was Senator Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Al Franken & Maxine Waters who ordered the hit. The mob squad.

  9. No doubt the only remedy is for everyone in the stands to be armed, ready to provide defensive fire. What could go wrong?

    2. Apparently. I’d be careful, though. About 2 million people live in the St. Louis commuter belt. I bet there’s more than 1 ‘James Hogdekinson’.

      1. 66 year old small business owning Bernie supporter possibly an angry vet I heard.

  13. Well, you move the middle of the bell curve a few notches to the right, nothing much changes on average, but the population in the right tail increases by a considerable factor. Were I looking for a source of the tape this fellow had running in his head, I’d review what’s been on the SPLC site the last 7 months or so.

    An unfortunate downstream effect of this is that members of Congress may retreat to a security bubble. We have enough public officials traveling in a security bubble (as well as our retired presidents).

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Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks

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