Tyler Barriss charged with involuntary manslaughter in Wichita swatting

[Mister Cheese]

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/cri...194441604.html

The man accused of making a false report to Wichita police that ended in an officer fatally shooting a 28-year-old man was charged with involuntary manslaughter, reporting a false alarm and interference with a law enforcement officer in his first court appearance in Wichita.

His bond was set at $500,000.

District Attorney Marc Bennett talks on Friday about the charges filed against Tyler Barriss over the alleged swatting call he made to Wichita police last month. Barriss was charged with involuntary manslaughter and made his first appearance in a Kansas courtroom after being extradited from California earlier this week.

Tyler Barriss, 25, was arrested in South Los Angeles on Dec. 29, less than 24 hours after someone called Wichita police claiming there was a homicide and hostage situation at 1033 W. McCormick. A man inside the home — identified by his family as Andrew Finch — opened his door to see why police were outside and was shot by an officer who was in a driveway across the street.

Barriss waived extradition to Kansas last week. He was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on Thursday afternoon. On a financial affidavit filed Friday, Barriss wrote that he had no address, is unemployed and has not worked in the past 6 months.

During his second short court appearance since his arrest, Barriss was asked to confirm his identity. Asked if he had any questions after his charge was formally read, Barriss answered, “no, I don’t.”

Barriss’ next court appearance will be later this month.

Asked what is happening with the other investigation in the case, involving the shooting, District Attorney Marc Bennett said it’s “still under review by me.”

“Once I make a determination, that will be made public either through charges or through a press conference like I normally do,” he said.

There’s no timeline for when a decision determining if the officer’s action were reasonable will be made, he said.

The case, Bennett said, has been unique and there’s not a lot of previous case law to reference. For that reason, the investigation remains ongoing and the charges against Barriss could be modified.

“I’ll continue to analyze this case,” he said. “While it seems like it’s been in the news now for a long time, hashed and rehashed, in reality, the homicide investigation is still in the early stages.”

The media interest in the story speaks volumes of its uniqueness, Bennett said. A journalist from Germany was at the hearing Friday.

What do you all think? Is involuntary manslaughter enough of a charge for him? Or should he be charged with voluntary manslaughter, knowing something like this might happen? Whatever happens here will set a precedent for future swatting incidents so I hope this goes well. Nobody should have to deal with shit like what this asshole put this family through.

[FurryRedVixen]

Not enough by far.

[Jonnusthegreat]

Not enough by far.

Sounds perfect to me.

[AeneasBK]

EDIT: Nvm.

[iETHOSi]

In all honesty, he deserves life.

[Rustedsaint]

I’m happy enough with the charge, and hopeing more swatters end up with criminal charges. These stupid pranks need to die out before more innocent people suffer

[iETHOSi]

So was Bariss the SWAuTistic guy who made the call, or the rager who asked SWAuTistic to make the call, not sure if it's made clear in the article, only read what you quoted.

Yes, Barriss is SWAuTistic.

[Mister Cheese]

So was Bariss the SWAuTistic guy who made the call, or the rager who asked SWAuTistic to make the call, not sure if it's made clear in the article, only read what you quoted.

What happened was there were two people arguing online. One of them supplied a false address to the rager and said pretty much "Go ahead, do it." Said rager (I can't fuckin remember his name sorry) contacted Barriss with this false address and had him swat it. Which resulted in the death of Tyler Finch. One could argue that all three of them could be charged as responsible.

[Adam Jensen]

The swatter should go to jail, the cop should go to jail.

There's so much stupid in this story.

[AeneasBK]

What happened was there were two people arguing online. One of them supplied a false address to the rager and said pretty much "Go ahead, do it." Said rager (I can't fuckin remember his name sorry) contacted Barriss with this false address and had him swat it. Which resulted in the death of Tyler Finch. One could argue that all three of them could be charged as responsible.

Yeah I realised how lazy I was being and just read the link, Bariss would be the SWAuTistic character.

[Crillam]

The swatter should go to jail, the cop should go to jail.

There's so much stupid in this story.

Agreed. The cop must have been triggerhappy. Just take a what if it was an hostage situation and one of the hostages was orderd to open the door?
A pretty big what if but still.

[The Oblivion]

good. hopefully they throw the book at him and give him the max possible.

[Gorsameth]

Manslaughter would be preferable but its much harder to make stick so I can understand why they would go one lesser.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/cri...194441604.html





What do you all think? Is involuntary manslaughter enough of a charge for him? Or should he be charged with voluntary manslaughter, knowing something like this might happen? Whatever happens here will set a precedent for future swatting incidents so I hope this goes well. Nobody should have to deal with shit like what this asshole put this family through.

I think that, the way the law currently stands, this is as much as they could charge him with to have a reasonable expectation of getting a conviction. Hopefully he gets the maximum sentence though.

[Afrospinach]

What do you all think? Is involuntary manslaughter enough of a charge for him?

From what I have read about the place laws that he has broken are not exactly forthcoming. It may not seem like much but they are probably "throwing the book at him", so to speak. You can't just charge him for murder just like that.

Now I certainly think he should be done for murder.

edit: should probably remind people of that case where this guy allowed his friends to borrow his car after they said they were going to kill this drug dealer's daughter. I think his sentence has since been reduced but he was initially done for murder by agency laws whereby no car = no murder. I do find it odd that there is nothing similar that can be done here.

[McFuu]

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/cri...194441604.html





What do you all think? Is involuntary manslaughter enough of a charge for him? Or should he be charged with voluntary manslaughter, knowing something like this might happen? Whatever happens here will set a precedent for future swatting incidents so I hope this goes well. Nobody should have to deal with shit like what this asshole put this family through.

It seems about right. Hopefully he gets the maximum sentences.

[LiiLoSNK]

Involuntary manslaughter is like nothing.

[Crillam]

What happened was there were two people arguing online. One of them supplied a false address to the rager and said pretty much "Go ahead, do it." Said rager (I can't fuckin remember his name sorry) contacted Barriss with this false address and had him swat it. Which resulted in the death of Tyler Finch. One could argue that all three of them could be charged as responsible.

Oh, more complex than I thought. I would say that the rager who contacted Barriss should also get punished. About the third guy, I don't know tbh.

[The Oblivion]

I think that, the way the law currently stands, this is as much as they could charge him with to have a reasonable expectation of getting a conviction. Hopefully he gets the maximum sentence though.

he also has priors that will now play into his sentence as well. (i.e he called in bomb threats to a news station or something)

[chazus]

Involuntary Manslaughter is... pretty much exactly what it is. He knew it was dangerous, but he assumed that they would just kick the door in, scare him, and that was it. He probably didn't think (or expect) death. the threat of swatting (for the victims) was the hassle and fear, not actual danger. I think that's a fair judgement. It wasn't murder, or homicide, or premeditated or intended.