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Say that Reuven is at the batting cages. After the machine turns off, Shimon flips it back on without Reuven knowing. A ball whacks Reuven in the head. Is Shimon liable for the resulting death?

What about an extreme case, in which Shimon programmed a robot to turn on the batting cage for him?

The Gemara in Makkos 8a notes that for a murder that is a gerama it is a machlokes whether one is liable, but a gerama of a gerama is patur according to everyone. How far removed does flipping on the circuit make one? Is that still considered direct enough?

Double AA
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DonielF
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    similar http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/60171/759 – Double AA Feb 19 '17 at 18:57
  • Note a sword is also a machine – Double AA Feb 19 '17 at 18:57
  • It's probably parallel to http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/38014/759 – Double AA Feb 19 '17 at 18:59
  • Is your extreme case that he, say, programmed the batting machine to turn on at noon and Reuven happened to be in the line of fire, or that he programmed it to turn on when its built-in camera recognized Reuven? – Monica Cellio Feb 19 '17 at 19:02
  • @DoubleAA Technically yes, but anything that you're holding is an extension of you. Throwing something at someone is your power. Throwing a clump of dirt at a tree which knocked down a cluster of dates is the case in Makkos in which there's an argument. – DonielF Feb 19 '17 at 19:09
  • @MonicaCellio The case I had in mind was that he saw Reuven and sent a robot over to the machine to whack the button. In your first case is it not like where one threw a rock into a street and someone walked into the line of fire, in which case he is absolved? Your second case sounds similar to my first. – DonielF Feb 19 '17 at 19:11
  • That's the distinction I was trying to get at, yes -- is he targeting Reuven, and it's just with more indirection? (You did say "murder" in the title; I just wanted to make sure we were still talking about intent.) – Monica Cellio Feb 19 '17 at 19:13

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