Page 12 of By the Time You Read This (Raisa Susanto #3)

Jake4537: If someone is blackmailed into committing murder, are they charged the same as someone who is just a psycho?

Tiredgirl: What you’re talking about in terms of person B (the blackmailed person committing the crime) is duress . It’s an argument that can be used by a prosecutor, similar to self-defense, but they need to prove that any reasonable person would have acted the same way. They also have to show that they couldn’t do something like ... go to the police (guys always go to the police pleaseeeee I know they’re like problematic but in that situation, just go! to! the! police). And —here’s the important part—most states have found that duress does Not cover murder (or sexual assault) because even if the person is threatened with death they should have died rather than kill someone else.

Tiredgirl: now back to person A who is doing the threatening—they won’t be charged with murder. But that doesn’t mean they’ll get away with it. Think Charles Manson. He was the reason that Sharon Tate and Co. were killed but he didn’t actually murder anyone. So he got conspiracy to commit and a death sentence (that was later commuted to life sentences). The lingo for this is proxy murder .

Jake4537: even if they threaten your kid or wife or something? You still can’t use it as a defense?

Tiredgirl: yeah that’s correct. You might get a lighter sentence from a sympathetic judge/jury, but you’ll still get charged. I’m too tired (ha!) to get into the philosophical question about the morality of it all, but I’m guessing, even knowing all that, a lot of people would take the jail time.