A friend of mine is going to hire a hitman, how would you handle this situation?

with a phone call to the cops…..

1) Tell your friend to contact a lawyer on behalf of his beloved.
2) Tell your friend that you consider yourself morally obligated to go to the authorities if he continues down his stated path.

Q: What do all battered women have in common?

If the guy beats a woman and cheats on her and keeps her captive in a marriage that she doesn’t to be in, I’d look into having a medal engraved for your friend if he gets away with it. We have enough people on this planet sucking up our limited resources that we shouldn’t have to worry our consciences about the well being of people who victimize others.

assuming your friend actually goes through with this ridiculous plan, you are now an accessory because you knew about it and didn’t act. so… i’d take that into consideration, if nothing else.

Instead of killing the husband, let’s call him Bill, why doesn’t Jill just divorces him and marry Jack?
That way everybody stays alive and Jack doesn’t have to pay the hitman, let’s call him Zack, a big bag of money.

wow..talk about some deep moral stuff…I would sit down with your friend and explain to him that there are other options than having someone killed. If they want to be together it’s not going to help when he hires someone, and then spends the rest of his life in prison. Also explain you now feel involved since he has laid this information on you. I’m not totally positive, but if he would get caught and they find out you knew also, you could be considered an accomplice or accessory. Tell him to contact the cops, and explain that she is being abused. Maybe they can handle the situation and get the wife out of there.

If you know someone is about to be killed and you do nothing to prevent it, aren’t you just as culpable as the killer?

@drdoombot – if you know someone is being beaten (which is many times fatal in domestic situations), and you do nothing to prevent it, aren’t you just as culpable as the beater?

Call the police if you think a persons life is at stake.

A: They just don’t listen.

…or you could just have Michael Weston take care of it =]

If you don’t make an effort to call the cops you are an accessory. Do you want to go to jail keeping a secret for your friend?

In a way we are accessories too now?

Holy Crap! How dare your friend tell you this, involve you this way. You have to go to the cops. How old are you/they?

There was a Lifetime movie almost exactly like this with Eric Roberts that was based on a true story. Woman pretended husband was abusing her, got Eric Roberts character to fall in love with her, pretended to get pregnant by Eric, convinced him to get rid of her husband so they could be together. Once he killed her husband, she dumped him. He committed suicide. I’m not saying she isn’t abused, he just needs to re-assese the situation.

i think the best thing to do is not piss off your friend.

@eponymoushipster I don’t think I’d continue a friendship with a person who’d hire a hit man to off their spouse.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic that’s why your life lacks that certain zing…

@eponymoushipster I don’t think I want that zing.

Unless your friend is “Friends” with the kind of “Friends” that do that sort of thing chances are hes gonna hire an undercover cop. You read those stories all the time. This will end badly im sure. Let me know when i can read it on CNN

Oh, bloody hell, call the cops. Seriously.

The only way I could be held accountable is if he gets caught and tells the police I knew about it right? I am a 100% positive he would not do this. But I agree it’s still risky, I don’t feel comfortable having this knowledge. As much as I don’t want to see the husband get killed I also don’t want my best friend to go to jail. So for now I’m just going to continue to try and talk sense into him, and if all fails I will consider going to the police.

@JLeslie we are both in our late 20’s I don’t know how old “Jill” is.

that’s another thing, I don’t have any information on “Jill” to give to the cops. I know her first name and the state she lives in. Presumably if I did go to the cops I guess I would just have to give them “Jack“s information and go from there.

Call the cops ofc
I think they’re both wrong, Jill’s husband and Jack.

@Ansible1 ; You have just told the world that you knew about it.

Yeah, big problem now is you told the world about it, you probably can’t just let it happen. Were it me, here’s what I’d do. First off, I’d talk to my friend and find out if he has any evidence of these beatings. It’s not as if no woman in history has ever played on the affections of a man to get what she wants out of him. She could be a murderous bitch who just wants to kill the guy and get his money, she might not give two fucks about Jack, and you need to make sure he knows that. Essentially I’d tell him, if you have evidence that he’s hurting her, HE should go to the police about it, they’ll take care of the guy and he won’t have to risk his freedom to do something about it.

I sympathize with Jack. If someone I truly loved was being hurt, I honest would have no qualms about having them offed, and if a friend in that situation told me about it, and convinced me that the guy deserved to die, and that he had proof of these accusations and had exhausted all other sane recourses, what I would not do is go on a public forum and ask for advice. So, my answer well could be the one I posted let the scumbag get killed, the world is a better place without him. But right now what I know is that someone I know only on line was told by a friend, that a friend of the friend was being abused by a 4th party, that’s not a reliable enough way for me to say turn a blind eye. And as you’ve now put this down, yes, if your friend gets caught, you could get arrested for knowing of someone’s imminent danger and doing nothing about it. I’d basically try to find out everything I could about the situation, do my best to show him alternatives, and if I was sure he wasn’t going to listen, I would call the cops.

Unless you wish to be a part of the crime, call law enforcement.
Why are you worried about “turning in a friend”? Someone who would seriously go through with a plan like that is not someone to be friends with.
As for the possiblity of Jill being an abused wife, I’m sure law enforcement would check that out too.
Do the right thing.
If you keep your mouth shut and someone ends up dead, would you really be able to live with yourself?

Do the right thing! Call the cops.

Jill needs help. Tell your friend to tell her to call for protection where she lives. She also could be using him to get out of her situation. This is a bad scene for all involved. Of course, don’t let your friend hire someone to kill someone. That’s nuts. If he really is doing it, which is crazy, of course tell the police.

Yeah, very true, can’t take it back now though.
@Stocky good point I will try to use that to talk him out of it
If I am able to talk him out of it, all is good, no harm no foul right? I really do believe i’ll be able to talk him out of it.
@dalepetrie Yeah I believe he does have proof, she sent him photos of bruises on her face and stuff like that.

He himself getting the police involved in her situation is the better option. I think if I can make him understand this I will succeed in stopping this.

I don’t know what to do about your friend, but my name is Jack and I could sure use a hitman. Could you ask him for the number?

Hitmen can be quite expensive. Usually they’re almost as expensive as lawyers, and may not always be effective (then again, lawyers are never effective anyway). And of course my bet is that this Jill is not getting a divorce because she’s after the guy’s money. And I suspect he may not even be beating her up, and it’s all part of her devious plan to get her husband out of the way, and go spend the money with someone else (not even Jack). If she wishes the guy were dead, she could just kill him herself. I wouldn’t trust her at all, and I certainly wouldn’t kill for her. If she really loved Jack, she would have married him instead. I bet her husband is a loving man that never laid a finger on her.

You think I watch too many movies? Thought so too, then real life caught up with me. I’ve seen worse things happen in my own life than any horror film so far. So tell your friend to hire that hitman. But also ask how much it would cost to kill Jill and not just the husband. Maybe the hitman does a special “pay one, get one for free” offer. Oh and get me his number.

so now that we know, does that make us accessories?

Stockings or handbags?

So do you have Jill’s number? If you could actually come in contact with her, perhaps you could tell her of your friend’s plans. If she really loves him (or cares the least bit about him) she’ll make sure to make it clear that she does not want her husband killed, and stop him herself. She’ll find the way. If she makes up excuses, it means the whole thing is her idea anyway, and she’s the real mastermind behind it. In which case a true friend would hire a hitman to kill Jill, then frame Jack so he ends up in jail before he gets a chance to get revenge from Bill (who he’ll think is behind it). Or you could just beat up Jill, so that she finds out what wife-battering really is, and stops insulting all those women that really do get battered by their husbands and can’t protect themselves.

Ok no murderer needed. The next time this wife beater hits her do this. Have your friend get some of his friends and pay this guy a visit. Don’t kill him just give him a beat down. Repeat as needed then have her call the cops and press charges against him. She needs to hire some brusers not murderers, much cheaper and less time in jail if the goon squad gets caught. Good luck.
boys who hit women deserve to be hit by men. Good day

Half up front, half when the job is done.

Be a man and call the cops. A man beating his wife is no excuse to have someone murdered.

I don’t need to know all the details of “Jill’s” situation to know that she’s probably not being held at gunpoint to stay in the marriage. This is one thing that pisses me off deeply in the case of women who are abused by their husbands. It is their life, they are grown women and they need to make decisions for themselves. It is entirely possible for her to get a divorce, but she probably has some fucked up mentality that’s stopping her from going through with it. It’s not her fault that her husband beats her, but it sure as hell is her fault that she’s choosing to stay married to the asshole.

Chances are, if your friend hires a hitman he will be caught. And he will spend time in prison, as he should. If he goes through with it and people find out that you knew, you will also spend time in prison, as you should – if you choose to do nothing about it.

Your friend needs to tell Jill that while what she’s going through is horrible, she needs to grow the fuck up and walk away from the marriage. There are many ways to do it, without resorting to murder. No, not self-defense – murder.

Tell your friend to tell Jill that if she divorces the jerk husband, he’ll promise to keep her safe from him and that he won’t be a bother anymore, no matter what. That may give her some incentive to leave him. A lot of the time, an abused woman’s excuse for not leaving is that she has nowhere to go, and no protection.

If he is murdered, will Jill still be up to being with your friend? Death changes things. He probably doesn’t want to risk losing her. Plus, he doesn’t want a murder on his conscience. That will be with him for the rest of his life.

You have to call the police, otherwise you are an accessory. Just a point: is your friend sure of his facts? Are you?

If I were you I’d report this to undercover police/ fbi, this is too serious, you can save someones life or 2lifes and your own conscience . I bet you can remain unonymous when you call. Do it or you will regret it all your life.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. You need to contact the authorities and let them handle it.

I recently had to remove a relative’s guns from his house. They are all legal, and registered, but since he is on an extended hospital stay, I felt that they weren’t safe in an unoccupied house. I was going to move them one day, thought better of it, and called the local sheriffs office to see what my options were.

Good thing I did, for if I had moved the guns with my vehicle, and been stopped by the cops, (for speeding or any other traffic violation), it would have been discovered that I have no current FOID card, & I would have went to jail for Illegal Possession of Firearms, which is a felony. It would have been ten counts, one count for each gun. so I had to apply for a FOID card first, and then move them to a safer place.

Tell him a hit man is a waste of money and he should do it himself.

@DrasticDreamer: I’m happy for you. You’ve obviously never gotten into one of these kinds of relationships.

@MacBean No, but my mom has. I’ve been through it, just in a different way.

@DrasticDreamer In that case, your second paragraph is one of the most cold and uncaring things I think I’ve ever read. I’m glad I’m not your mom.

I’ve been in a similar situation (as Jack) and even though “Jill” did not ask me to kill “Bill”, she did allow all sorts of things to happen, and expected me to fight her war for her. I told her that I’d keep her safe (she had already left the guy six months earlier and was already with me), but she should stop allowing him into her life all the time. Whenever we were not together, she’d sneak out to see him. They didn’t do anything (except argue) but he played with her mind and kept making her feeling guilty. But it was her fault for allowing all this to happen. All she had to do was ignore his calls, and refuse to go out on a date with a guy she’d left 6 months earlier. That’s not that hard.

In the end I told her that it was either me or him, and that if she really wanted my protection (as she said she did) she’d have to block his calls and stop seeing him. She admitted that she couldn’t, and thought she “loved” him (I would never call this relationship “love” in a million years). She went back to this sick bastard and now they are making each other miserable. He’s locked her up in a flat and won’t let her go out or talk to anyone anymore. But it was her choice. I find the whole situation disgusting, but I cannot do anything about a masochist that enjoys being hurt and goes back to a guy she knows will treat her badly by her own free will.

I’m still not buying the “poor helpless Jill” scenario, but perhaps I’m wrong.

@Jack79;
you need to find a nice no drama girl! Where do you find these winners anyway? I thought musicians got their pick?

@Judi lol no, not at all. That’s just a myth. Allow me to explain:
1) the music I sing is directed at older audiences (people who remember the 60s). I’m 37.
2) most of the people that come to my gigs are men. The few younger women that do show up are all taken.
3) anyone who is NOT taken, will be taken by the time I start singing some love songs. If not, she’s either not worth it or simply not into it.
4) By the end of the night, any girl still around is probably an alcoholic (that’s how I met the love of my life, and she was an alcoholic). Either that or she’s some weird stalker.
5) Even if some really nice girl came to my gig and liked me enough to stay all night and wait to talk to me after the show, I’m usually too tired by then and just want to go and sleep. Just like anybody else, it’s not a good idea to meet me while I’m working (imagine trying to chat up a waitress or a bus driver). I’m not in my “flirty mood” then anyway.

The only exception to all the above is daytime gigs, such as open-air festivals and so on. I’ve met a lot of nice people during those, and talk a lot. No girls though, but that’s mainly because when I was doing those gigs regularly I had a steady girlfriend. I’ve got one in a couple of weeks though, who knows?

I still believe the best place to meet people is either online or at school/work/uni. The only problem with online meetings is that most of the people live thousands of miles away.

Incidentally that messed-up girl was actually a fan, and I met her at one of my concerts (she came with my drummer’s girlfriend). Was great while it lasted, but I don’t regret getting out of that drama before it consumed me. Wish she would have picked me though, mainly for her own sake. Or that, if I wasn’t good enough, she would have found someone else at least, not THAT guy!

Call the police.. right now. not tomorrow or next week. Tell them everything you’ve just told us, and send them to speak to your friend. They can then go an have a word with Jill and her husband. You will save two lives that way. The life of your friend, and the life of the abuser. “Jill” wouldn’t be the first one to make up stories about an abusive husband to some poor guy to get him to her her dirty work.

Like it or not, you are now responsible for those two lives because of the information you have. your friend may be angry with you for calling the police, but you are justified in being angry with him for involving you in all of this.

Don’t allow your life to be ruined by someone else’s drama.. Call the cops!!

Don’t let your friend end up like this

@MacBean No, it’s not. Far from it. Do you think my mom could have gotten herself out of the situation had she chosen not to take responsibility for her own life? It’s the first thing a woman has to do in that kind of situation. No one else can get you out – only you can. And my mom finally learned that – as every woman in similar situations has to.

This question disgusts me. Yeah, let’s all go out and murder people because (in most cases) the woman chooses not to leave. That is the first step. “Jill” can wish “Jack” was dead or that someone murders him all she wants to, but it won’t help anything. If that were to happen, it would make her situation and multiple other people’s situations far worse. All it takes is her leaving. No one dies. No one goes to prison.

Because I have been through it, I don’t think you should be one to judge. “Jill” has multiple options and having someone murder her husband shouldn’t be one of them – especially if she’s not even trying to leave.

I’m glad you’re not my mom, too. I heard enough excuses during my life regarding reasons to stay in situations like that.

There are especially no excuses when you have children.

@DrasticDreamer I’m definitely not condoning the hiring of a hitman. If I thought that was a good option, I’d’ve done it for my sister ages ago.

I don’t think seeing an abusive relationship from the vantage point that you saw one from has helped you understand them as much as you think it has. Even if the person truly wants to leave, sometimes it’s just not possible without outside help and support, and in many cases the abuser takes that away. Abuser aren’t just physically abusive. They’re also psychologically controlling and manipulative and abusive. They emotionally isolate their victim, systematically wear down their self-esteem and perception of how much control they have over their own life/situation, and often manipulate others around them to believe the victim is lying or exaggerating.

Anyway, I don’t know enough about this particular situation to say what I think of “Jill,” but I tend to give the abused the benefit of the doubt. Just walking out is sometimes not that easy even when you’re just run-of-the-mill unhappy and not being physically and emotionally battered.

One word…

Cops

@MacBean and @DrasticDreamer I see some valid points in what both of you are saying. Granted, it is difficult and seemingly impossible to simply leave a situation where there is abuse.

When I left a similar situation in my youth, the abuser followed and found me several times over a period of 5 years. It was very difficult to run, and even more so to hide from that asshole, but I did do it. He kept tabs on me the whole time I was with him, so when it came time to leave, I had to do so with only the clothes on my back, and had to just vanish without a moments notice to him. I took the first plane that left stae and moved across the country. He found me 3 months later. I have no idea how he did, but he showed up at my job one day 1000 miles away from where I lived with him.

What I couldn’t do and can’t understand how Jill can is see someone else while still ina an abusive relationship. Usuually abusers keep very close tabs on their victims. If Jill is able to have a lover on the side, surely she has freedom enough to get away from her husband and start over without killing him. I agree that is it very difficult to leave in certain situations, but staying is a matter of choice and Jill can make that choice rather than involve her lover in a murder case.

I think we need an update. Did they do rhe right thing?

Yeah, what happened???

I think an update would be great too! This topic came up at a really good time, I have to write an ethics paper on a moral issue and I chose to write something along these lines as my case study..so ending the paper with what choice you made would be great!

I hope they’re not in jail.

Update: I was successful in convincing my friend not to go ahead with this. His plan was all full of holes and I pointed all of them out. He admits he’s being irrational, he is just depressed and has been drinking alot. He lives on the other side of the country so it’s hard to be there for him. I told him I sympothize with his situation, but emphasized that his plan is pointless even if it works out because he would end up in jail (and possibly me) and fortunately he made sense of it. I’m happy with the outcome and feel alot better.