Legal question

[BigGuy]

Info for my book.
What happens to a case where there is only one suspect who dies before going to trial? (It's a murder case if that makes a difference.) Is it ever considered closed? I'm assuming you can't try a dead suspect.

[srothstein]

In a case like this, if the police are convinced and have evidence that the suspect was the actual criminal, they would normally mark it as closed by exception. That description can be applied to a lot of different causes for the case to go no further.

Of course, just because the police think of it as closed, there is no guarantee that someone else would not accept that and may still try to investigate and find other suspects.

[philip964]

This comes up a lot.

Lee Harvey Oswald.

Sandy Hook school shooting

Columbine High School

Harding Street murders in Houston.

Sometimes we find out what really happened. Some times we don’t.

[ScottDLS]

This comes up a lot.

Lee Harvey Oswald.

Sandy Hook school shooting

Columbine High School

Harding Street murders in Houston.

Sometimes we find out what really happened. Some times we don’t.

Las Vegas mass shooting!

[BigGuy]

Thank you guys. I'll have my characters close it by exception.

[crazy2medic]

This comes up a lot.

Lee Harvey Oswald.

Sandy Hook school shooting

Columbine High School

Harding Street murders in Houston.

Sometimes we find out what really happened. Some times we don’t.

Las Vegas mass shooting!

We know nothing more about the Las Vegas Shooting than we did three days after it happened!