An Oklahoma district attorney said Thursday he doesn’t plan to file any charges in the case of Nex Benedict, the nonbinary 16-year-old Owasso teenager whose death following a fight in a high school bathroom was ruled a suicide.

Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said in a statement that after reviewing the investigation by the Owasso Police Department, he agreed with an assessment from detectives that the fight between the teen and three girls was an “instance of mutual combat” and that charges were not warranted.

      • Pandantic [they/them]@midwest.social
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        8 months ago

        I believe adults would be charged for assault, though proving that this fight “caused” Nix’s death is much harder. If the suicide note says something about it, there would still be a tough case.

          • megabat
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            8 months ago

            A bunch of your comments in this thread are saying things that disagree with the details in the article and another that’s linked in this one. Where are you getting this info? Because Apnews is one of the few I trust. I’m trying to ascertain if you’re worth listening to over the medical examiner that said it was toxic levels of two drugs and that a suicide notes release was up to the family as reported by Apnews.

            “An important part of the Owasso Police Department’s investigation was the discovery of some brief notes, written by Benedict, which appeared to be related to the suicide,” Kunzweiler said. “The precise contents of the suicide note are a personal matter which the family will have to address within the privacy of their own lives.”

            And from a link in the linked article.

            The report shows Benedict had toxic levels of two drugs in their system and died of an overdose. A complete autopsy will be released in 10 days in accordance with state law, the medical examiner’s office said.

            Edit: Furthermore you said

            Neither Benadryl nor Prozac are known to be fatal.

            And this disagrees. https://addictionresource.com/drugs/benadryl/overdose/

            Overdose on Benadryl has been found to be one of the top 15 death-causing drug ODs from the year 2011 through 2016 in the United States.

  • ManicZed@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Is this not the teen who was assaulted in a restroom, received a head trauma as a result, was given half assed medical care, then died like 14 hours later? How is that suicide?

    • Tinidril@midwest.social
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      8 months ago

      Nex actually was the first to commit an assault, by throwing water on some girls that in all likelihood totally deserved it.

      It does appear to be a suicide by intentional overdose of two prescription medications. It seems overwhelmingly likely that the fight/beating contributed, but that doesn’t amount to murder.

      • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Neither Benadryl nor Prozac are known to be fatal. The levels found in Nex’s system were not elevated. There are no known conflicts with the drugs. Please stop spreading these conservative lies to cover another murder by conservatives.

        • TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          I know someone who OD’d on Benadryl, ended up in a medically induced coma, and barely survived. People most definitely die from Benadryl overdoses. It is in the top 15 of drug overdose deaths. That article also explains that Benadryl is known to be used for intentional drug overdoses.

          I’m not discounting your idea that conservatives are lying and trying to cover up some of the facts about this case, and I am most certainly hoping for some sort of justice for Nex, but this part of your comment is just straight up misinformation.

          Do you somehow have a source on the levels found in their system? That could absolutely make a difference in your claims, but the autopsy report hasn’t been released, yet, so idk where you are getting that.

        • Tinidril@midwest.social
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          8 months ago

          A quick search turned up legitimate sources for both Benadryl and Prozac overdoses being potentially fatal, as well as a list of serious interactions. Fatal dosages are generally not available for combinations of different drugs but, generally speaking, interactions make overdoses far more likely.

          Short of any credible counter information, the coroner’s report is the appropriate (and only) legitimate source.

          I am firmly against the right on these issues, but not to the point where I will start chasing conspiracy theories like they do.

  • SeaJ
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    8 months ago

    Should push for federal hate crime charges.

  • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I would point out that those three girls have to live with what they did for life but given that they were just following their religion I doubt they will feel anything except for joy.

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    8 months ago

    Americans please, I’m begging you, if you actually care about this, go organise a protest this should be on the level of the George Floyd protests.

  • athairmor@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Steve Kunzweiler

    From Wikipedia:

    “Kunzweiler and his wife, Dr. Christine Kunzweiler, have three daughters. In September 2022, a daughter with mental illness stabbed Kunzweiler multiple times but he managed to survive.[57] He is mentioned in the podcast Panic Button: The April Wilkens Case as having confronted a Tulsa social worker about how domestic violence advocates need to get survivors to testify, otherwise they are not really being abused.”

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Kunzweiler

  • VelvetStorm@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    But if I got into a fight with another adult and killed them I could and would be charged with at least manslaughter.

  • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Of course no charges were filed. Conservatives proactively encourage this kind of murder. They cheer and giggle gleefully when an LGBTQ person is murdered. This is just who conservatives are at their core.

    Historically, an infestation of conservatism has never been cured by pacifism.

  • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I looked into mutual combat a while back, it’s not actually a legal thing. Rather it’s a consequence of it being really hard to prosecute people for fighting when both parties willingly participated.

    • meco03211@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      It can be explicitly legalized. This is from Texas:

      CONSENT AS DEFENSE TO ASSAULTIVE CONDUCT. (a) The victim’s effective consent or the actor’s reasonable belief that the victim consented to the actor’s conduct is a defense to prosecution