- So apparently Mr. Beast.
- Behind me is an assassin, and if he stabs me
with this rubber knife
by the end of the day, he wins a hundred grand.
- In his latest viral stunt,
the prolific 24 year old YouTube star hired a real assassin
to try and murder him for a hundred thousand dollars.
- This video is gonna be the craziest video
you've ever seen.
- Okay, so the video's title is a little misleading.
Emphasis on the Real Assassin,
not the really killing me part of that title.
Mr. Beast did not hire a real assassin to really try
and kill him.
The assassin was not really going to kill Jimmy.
He does not have a death wish, as far as I know.
But what would happen legally if he had hired a
real assassin to actually kill him?
Now, if you are one of the 12 people who haven't seen
Mr. Beast's video, here's a quick summary.
Over the course of 10 hours, Mr. Beast engages in a very
expensive game of cat
and mouse to elude his would-be fake assassin
across five different locations.
- Inside this Cars backpack is not only a hundred grand
but also a tracker giving him my realtime location.
- Among Mr. Beast's exorbitant expenditures include
getting a tank to run over the assassin's car,
checking into every single room in a hotel,
and filling them with distractions,
using a Lamborghini and helicopter to escape,
blowing up a real bank and building his own carnival.
At the end of the video, Mr. Beast did give his opponent
a sporting chance by faking an ankle injury
at the carnival to see if the assassin would still stab him.
- Got all this for a broken ankle, huh?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
I don't know about that.
- So what is that obvious?
- Woo! Let's go.
- Which of course he did with a fake knife.
But Mr. Beast is a man of his word
and paid the a hundred thousand dollars bounty.
- Here's your hundred thousand dollars.
- This means a lot to me and my family, thank you.
- Now, of course, this was all just a very expensive
and entertaining stunt, but it does raise an interesting
legal issue.
Is it a crime to actually take a hit out against yourself?
And you'd be surprised, or maybe not surprised how
often this comes up on Reddit.
So let's dive right in.
Is it illegal for Mr. Beast to actually pay someone
to kill him?
Short answer, yes.
Longer answer, absolutely, it's 100% a crime.
But the question of which laws would've been broken
by Mr. Beast and his hiring assassin
is a more interesting question.
- I did once try to kill the world's greatest lover
but then I realized there are laws against suicide.
- So let's start with the laws against suicide.
Now, the former mayor
of Springfield is partially right, in British common law,
suicide used to be a felony.
While attempted suicide was a misdemeanor,
which sort of makes no sense at all.
But historically
those who successfully took their own lives would be buried
in a public highway with a stake driven through their body
and by forfeiture would surrender the remaining possessions
to the king, yikes but in the United States,
suicide is no longer considered a statutory crime
but some states still criminalize an unsuccessful attempt.
In 2018, Maryland made news
after a 56 year old man pleaded guilty
to one charge of attempted suicide and was sentenced
to a three year suspended jail sentence and two years
of probation, Maryland recognizes a common law crime
like attempted suicide that have no specific penalty
leaving it up to the judge to decide the punishment.
And according to the prosecutor,
this charge was not something I've seen before
and not something he'd pursue in the future.
Quote, it's not
like we're trying to put this guy in jail or anything.
We're just trying to get him into a mental health treatment.
Now, naturally, critics felt
that giving a mentally ill man a criminal record
under the guise of helping him
was an abusive prosecutorial discretion.
But that's first party suicide.
And as far as I can tell from Mr. Beast's video,
he did not wish to take his own life.
So he hired someone else, theoretically.
And states have generally made it a crime
to help people end their own lives.
Even with the deceased consent,
this includes both physician assisted suicide
in which a doctor administers a lethal dose of medication
as well as assisted suicide outside of the medical context.
And only 10 states in the District
of Columbia allow for physician assisted suicide.
And many of the states have strict requirements
and procedures that must be followed
for the doctor to avoid homicide charges,
such as requiring the patient to be a state resident,
have fewer than six months to live
and be given many opportunities to change their mind.
To legally end a person's life without jumping
through any hoops, you'd have to become a police officer.
But outside of these jurisdictions, individuals
who end another person's life will face criminal charges
even if done with the deceased permission.
Of course, many people remember the trials of
Dr. Kevorkian who helped
with many instances of physician assisted suicide.
In January, 2023, an elderly woman was arrested
for shooting her terminally ill husband at the hospital
as part of a murder suicide pack they made weeks prior.
Although she could have been indicted for murder,
she was hit with lesser charges
of assisting self murder slash manslaughter
and aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer.
But of course, suicide is one thing.
Hiring a contract killer to kill anyone, including yourself
is a completely different matter.
Legal Eagel breaking news,
it is illegal to murder people
but if you're learning this for the first time
you probably need to hire a lawyer like yesterday.
And since it's a crime to murder people,
it's also illegal to hire someone to commit murder.
The crime of contract killing, AKA a murder for hire,
occurs when one party hires another to
kill a targeted individual or group
of people in exchange for some pecuniary benefit.
However, any agreement to commit murder would be
in a legal contract and therefore not legally enforceable.
So if someone welches on your murder contract,
don't expect a court to help you get your money back.
And typically this is charged as a state crime.
Though penalties vary by jurisdiction,
in Florida where this happens just as often
as you'd think the hirer face is a life sentence
if the victim is actually killed and the maximum 20 years
if the victim is injured but not killed.
And if the murder plot is formed
but the victim isn't injured or killed,
the potential sentence is about 10 years.
And as you may recall, Joe exotic, AKA, the Tiger King,
is currently serving a 21 year prison sentence
for trying to hire two different men,
one of whom was an undercover FBI agent to kill his nemesis
and animal rights activist Carol Baskin.
And here Federal's jurisdiction was established
because the scheme involved interstate travel in commerce.
Specifically Joe Exotic gave the first hitman
$3,000 to travel from Oklahoma to South Carolina
and then to Dallas in furtherance of the murder plot.
And murder for hire plots typically involve killing
a third party.
But what happens if the intended victim is yourself?
And while hiring an assassin to take out yourself
doesn't happen in real life that much.
If you search suicide by hitman on IMDB,
you'll see nearly two dozen movies
and TV shows using this trope.
Most famously, this plot line takes center stage
in the criminally underrated Bulworth.
In this 1998 political satire,
Warren Beatty plays a depressed US Senator who
decides to end his life, then takes
out a 10 million life insurance policy naming his daughter
as the beneficiary
knowing that suicide would avoid the policy.
The senator then hires a hitman to kill him.
And of course, that's also the plot
to the Chevy Chase movie, Fletch.
I'm sure all the kids watching Mr. Beast remember Fletch.
- Now, how long have you had these pains, Mr. Barbor?
- No, that's Babar. - Two Bs?
- One bee.
B A B A R. - That's two.
- Yeah, but not right next to each other.
I thought that's what you meant
- Right, you know, it's a good movie.
And that's actually not too far off
from what actually happened in South Carolina
very recently in real life, Alex Murdaugh, who in March
of 2023 was found guilty in the double homicide
of his wife and son was previously caught
up in a failed suicide for higher scheme to
have his cousin Eddie shoot him to death.
And in that case of life imitating art,
Murdaugh arranged for his own failed murder.
So his son Buster could, like Bulworth,
collect on the 10 million life insurance policy.
Except when Cousin Eddie tried to shoot Murdaugh,
the bullet only grazed his head.
In 2021, the grand jury indicted the cousins
for their suicide for higher scheme.
Cousin Eddie was charged with a assisted suicide, assault
and battery of a high aggravated nature,
appointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud
and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.
Murdaugh was charged
with insurance fraud. conspiracy to commit insurance fraud
and filing a false police report.
Notably, Murdaugh was not charged with murder for hire
or with any crime related to the actual suicide for hire.
Just the crime surrounding the scheme like insurance fraud.
And that's how the state
of Utah handled a similar suicide for hire case.
A 2018, 22 year old Eric Bedolla while claiming to
be a 19 year old woman slash his ex-fiancee
entered into an agreement online
with a hitman to kill Bedolla in exchange for $5,000.
The hitman was actually a detective.
That happens a lot in these kinds of cases.
The hitman that you're talking to is, you know,
probably a cop or FBI agent,
but Bedolla was promptly arrested
and charged with first degree felony, criminal solicitation
and second degree felony obstruction of justice,
like Murdaugh,
the state did not charge Bedolla for the actual suicide
for hire plot, just the ancillary crimes.
But that brings us to the main question.
What would happen if Mr. Beast did hire an assassin
to kill him?
What would the legal consequences be for Jimmy
and his whole team if everything in the video wasn't
actually a stunt, but actually happened in real life?
Well, for starters, Mr. Beast is a resident
of North Carolina, so that state law controls
and North Carolina does outlaw murder for hire schemes.
Not surprising.
And interestingly, North Carolina has no specific statute
outlining suicide for hire, and we couldn't find any example
of the prosecution in that state.
There are terminally ill patients do have a right to
have their medical representatives honor a patient's
decision to withdraw or withhold life sustaining measures
under North Carolina General Article 23.
But whether you call it a murder for hire or suicide
for hire, Mr. Beast's antics would likely
still be classified as an legal contract killing.
- How did Jimmy find an assassin for this, anyway?
- I found Jimmy, he didn't find me.
- The fact doesn't change just because Mr. Beast's contract
involves an elaborate game of cat and mouse.
- So I've seen the other guys that chased Jimmy,
he's gonna be ready there for us so you can point and laugh
and call us nerds.
Well, that ain't gonna happen this time
- [Narrator] A few moments later.
- Listen to this real quick.
That's my door to my getaway vehicle, later nerd.
- He just ninja flipped outta here again.
- And if Mr. Beast or his associates engaged in any
interstate commerce
or communications or travel and connection with the scheme
from, you know, renting tanks to hiring actors to fill
up the hotel, well that murder for higher plot is probably
now a federal crime as well.
Now, typically, as you saw in the Murdaugh
and Bedolla cases,
the individuals who take out a contract against themselves
are not charged with the actual suicide for higher plot.
But that doesn't mean that they couldn't be.
It's still the same crime.
And similarly, Mr. Beast could theoretically be charged
with conspiracy to off himself.
Conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people to
commit an illegal act along with an intent to
achieve the agrees goal, and generally at least one
over an act in furtherance of that illegal goal.
It's illegal to pay someone to kill someone.
And if you're doing the paying, you are engaged
in a conspiracy even when the target is yourself.
And I'd feel bad for anyone on Mr. Beast's team
who also helped out in the process of intending to off
the main star because anyone else involved in the murder
for hire plot, even if you just take a small overt act
and further into the conspiracy, well, you are screwed
Every time someone helped out in this entire scheme.
Well, they're probably on the hook too.
I'm looking at you, Chris
- Are you telling me to rob a bank?
- Yeah, actually I am. - And every time Mr. Beast
asked someone to commit a crime on his behalf,
well that's probably criminal solicitation.
And when Mr. Beast encourages a person to commit a crime
and that person does commit that crime,
well that's probably aiding and abetting as well.
- Chris, are you in the tank?
- Yeah, where did we get a tank from?
- They're inside the warehouse.
You know what to do. - Roger that.
- [Narrator] Rubber suits, going dock.
- [Chris] Destroy the car!
- Are you kidding me?
They ran over our car with a tank.
- I ran over your car with a tank.
- Though of course, the bank explosion here
was actually done with the bank's consent
because it was set to be demolished anyway
but that's a good thing because otherwise Mr. Beast
would be facing some light terrorism charges
under 18 USC 844, oh and in such a case,
the death penalty is on the table if anyone is killed
in the attack, for example,
in 2020, 26 year old Jerry Drake Varnell was convicted
under the statutes for plotting
with an undercover FBI agent to blow up
an Oklahoma City Bank, in 2017,
the then 23 year old Varnell drove a van loaded
with what he thought was an active bomb
to the bank and attempted to detonate the fake device
with his cell phone.
Varnell was sentenced to 25 years
in prison for his unsuccessful attempt.
Now, thankfully, Mr. Beast's whole video was just
an entertaining stunt that everyone was in on.
And there was no illegal aim
at the end of this contract because if it wasn't,
Mr. Beast and his friends would be going to jail for a very,
very long time.
Though I imagine spending time in prison would only make
Mr. Beast's YouTube viewership go even higher.
Oh, he's actually done that.
Now, between driving a Lambo a tank and a helicopter,
Mr. Beast's carbon footprint is, well not small.
Now carbon offsets could be a great option
but most of the current marketplace enables
and even incentivizes scams
to the point that they're nothing more
than than greenwashing on average.
But today's sponsor, Wren, reached out
and created a system that makes carbon offsets
actually work, whether you're Mr. Beast or just trying to do
your part for the environment.
Now, my friend Sam over at Wendover Production's
and Jet Lag grilled their CEO
and put them through their paces.
He's convinced that Wren is as good
as it gets when it comes to carbon offsetting.
Now carbon offsetting is only as good
as the accuracy of the project evaluations.
Wren checks hundreds of tiny details to verify
that each project is actually going to do what it says
and it's an ongoing process.
Once the project actually starts too,
they only have seven active projects, so they put a ton
of focus into each one, and they only sell offsets
to a combined portfolio of all of their projects.
That way they reduce the risk and build
in a margin for error if one of the projects falls short.
So if you want to be genuinely as sure
as possible that you're actually offsetting the emissions
from taking a flight or driving around town,
Wren is the place to go.
That'll be what I'm using going forward
for both my personal and business carbon offsetting
and I think you should too and make it super simple to
calculate your estimated personal carbon footprint
and give personalized suggestions on how to reduce it.
Then for anything else, you can set up a monthly offset
so you can reduce your personal contribution
to the climate crisis.
Doing this probably costs a lot less than you think
and it's even less considering that if you click
on the button that's on screen right now or down
in the description, they'll pay to offset the first month
of emissions for the first 100 people to sign up.
So if you'd like to reduce your carbon footprint
in the most effective way possible, click on the link below
and after that, click on this box over here
for more Legal Eagle, or I'll see you in court.