The logic for the bolded is what I've been saying makes zero sense. How can attempted murder be attempted murder when Yatim is dead? Is it a shrewd move by the crown to reach a compromise? Yes. But I think the compromise comes at a cost by making this more of a legal grey area than it needed to be. And it's critical when we're talking about potentially a precedent-setting case for police officers in Ontario, and Canada. Why the grey area? Because the Criminal Code doesn't really have a section devoted to a situation like Forcillo's. The Criminal Code has some very black/white charges listed, but doesn't take into account a situation where there is a peace officer utilizing excessive force, causing death, at least as far as I know. Even the Criminal Code doesn't go into proper detail when it comes to excessive force on its own, simply stating:
It doesn't go into the degree of excessive force (obviously this case would be excessive just by the volley of shots alone), how a public/peace officer should be punished. Taking all of that into consideration, these reasons related to law application are primarily why I don't agree that this should be an attempted murder charge.
If, instead, we had a situation where Yatim was hit/grazed by a couple of bullets but was still visibly breathing and alive, and Forcillo kept on shooting and missing, then I can see the attempted murder charge making sense because the number of shots in relation to perpetrator status would demonstrate a visible intent to kill but ultimately failing to succeed in his action.
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