So what, intent to kill has little to do with 2nd degree murder in this context. Forcillo was not there out of any reason other then being dispatched. He was there to do his duty. He has no other business or intent of malice in going there other then to do his job. . . . There was no provable intent of malice against Yatim. Without that you will NEVER get a 2nd degree murder conviction let alone for a police officer.
I guess the point you are making here is that there was no element of premeditation in the Yatim killing. ("Intent of malice" = premeditation?) If so, you are quite right.
Except that the absence of premeditation means you will NEVER get a
1st degree murder conviction.
That's why Furcillo has been accused of
2nd degree murder -- where the prosecution does not need to prove premeditation.
For 2nd degree murder, the prosecution has to prove "intent to kill" -- but that is a slam-dunk, given the video.
The officer does not have to prove self defense.
He sure does. In an affirmative defence (self-defence, insanity, entrapment, etc), it is up to the accused to introduce the evidence needed to convince the jury that he had an excuse. The accused himself has to prove that, although he did indeed commit the criminal act, his reason for doing so takes away his guilt.
He only needs to prove he felt threatened. Even if that perception was proven to be wrong, you cannot obtain a 2nd degree murder conviction. Only negligence.
I guess the point you are making here is that self-defence requires the accused to show only that
he was in fear for his life (or the lives of others, esp. in a police case), even if that fear later turns out to be groundless (e.g if the gun the deceased was pointing turns out to be a toy). His "fear" does not even have to be the fear a reasonable person would have, but
his fear. If that is your point, you are correct.
There is no way the Yatim killing could be attributed to
negligence! What -- Furcillo closed his eyes and blazed away, without intending to kill Yatim, is that it?