Your best friend just committed murder

And you are the only person who they have confessed to. What do you do? If they are convicted they will go away forever, never speak to you again, and the friendship ends. However you can help them cover it up and not get caught but have to live with that on your mind.

I would call the cops. I'm not trying to get myself in trouble, plus even if they were my friend I wouldn't want to talk to them anymore if they killed someone.

Okay completely depends on the situation. Who did they murder and why would be my questions. No matter what the case I would never help them cover it up or get involved in anyway. Depending on their answers/whatever they tell me about what they did I'd either turn them in or never speak of it again with them and carry on as friends.

Wait, there's a guarantee that we can cover it up and not get caught?

Vital said:

Wait, there's a guarantee that we can cover it up and not get caught?

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Yes indeed! It was the perfect crime and only you turning them in would get them arrested.

Castform said:

Yes indeed! It was the perfect crime and only you turning them in would get them arrested.

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Then it's purely based off who got killed. If it was someone I knew and liked, I'd turn them in. If it was someone who I didn't know, or hated (not that I hate anyone, really), then I wouldn't. Yeah, I know murder is murder, but a friend (best friend at that) is a best friend. There's an option between the morally right thing to do and the instinctive thing to do. I'd keep my lip sealed and bow my head.

This is obviously under the assumption I know for a fact that I'll never get caught during the crime, though, which technically isn't possible. In real life, I'd sell him/her out. I love my best friends, but health and happiness above all, and I'm not going to risk getting dragged down for someone else's faults. I hope that doesn't sound selfish, because I'm not trying to be. It's just how it would go for me.

Since we are guaranteed to get away with it, then I probably would help her. She's a good person and all, I'm sure if she killed someone she had a very good reason to do so.

But yeah, I still have to echo the above posts - I can't really answer this seriously without knowing some pretty key information.

If no one could get arrested from covering it up then I'd help do that. The victim probably deserved it.

don't know why anyone would confess to anybody that they committed a murder.

That aside there are so many small details left out that would change my answer depending on circumstances. Regardless, only thing I can tell him for certain is to be a man, confess, and face the consequences, but I'm the kind of person that doesn't want to be deeply involved in such complicated situations.

Juno said:

I'm sure if she killed someone she had a very good reason to do so.

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Katholic Nun said:

The victim probably deserved it.

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This seems to be the main issue that goes unaddressed in the original question: Is this murder in actuality or simply in the eyes of the law? That is, was this an unjust killing (murder), or was the situation not so morally black-and-white? Did the best friend shoot a child molester in self-defense in the heat of the moment, or did the best friend hang an old lady who looked at him funny after planning the deed beforehand? More importantly, does this change your answer?

If we are in fact talking about an unjust killing here, my course of action would be first to try to convince my best friend to turn himself in because it's the right thing to do. If my friend goes two days without doing so or I learn he's killed someone else, I turn him in myself. I would only tell my friend I might turn him in if I don't deem him to be a danger to myself.

I have two lines of thinking for my answer, one secular and one spiritual.

Thinking secularly, friendship is not unconditional. I would never be best friends with someone if I thought they would ever murder someone. I might still try to be some kind of friend to them in the hopes I can dissuade them from killing someone, but I would always think of them as more of a danger to handle than a true friend. If it turned out I was so drastically wrong about someone's moral compass, I would hope they'd immediately lose my best-friendship, no matter how much it hurt. At that point he's a murderer, not my best friend, and I would fulfill my obligation to society to see that he ends up in the hands of the law.

Thinking spiritually, if I believe that someone has knowingly killed someone unjustly, then I believe that they've opted for eternal misery after they die. Morally, my obligation is to get them to repent and seek salvation from this. I don't believe that there is repentance for murder without making reparations, and part of this must be subjecting oneself to the mercy of society, because one's right to be a normal member of society is forfeited when one commits murder. Moreover, I don't see how one can repent from murder while enjoying the freedom of having gotten away with it; it's like seeking forgiveness for robbery while you intend to keep all the money.

If, however, the killing wasn't murder and I don't see my friend as a threat to those around him and I don't think he's going to Hell for it, I don't know what I'd do.

My first concern would be: will I be a future target? If the murdered person was someone my friend had a beef with or who was otherwise really close to her at one point, I'd probably just phase her out of my life. If it was some random person or someone that doesn't match my characteristics, I honestly would not care. But I'm kind of a sociopath.

I would cover it up and then later on black mail him for loads and loads of money

/runfothehills

~skylight: i'd hide it
~skylight: ryan is my best friend and boyfriend
~skylight: i couldnt live without him
~skylight: :c

posting this before ryan is a dumbass and ruins it :|

It really depends on who they murdered and why. Someone who probably deserved it? I'd keep my friend's secret. The only case where I would turn my friend in would be where they killed someone random "just because," where in that case I would question my friend's mental health .

It depends on why they murder the victim. Is s/he someone who once abused her? Is it self-defense? Is it something she had planned for a long time? Is it someone who just happened to pass by?

If it's the first one, then clearly I would cover it up for her, except if there's evidence to the abuse, then it can be called as a self-defense, right? If I'm not mistaken, murder out of self-defense isn't really a crime, since your motive is just to protect yourself, unlike them planned out murders. Which also answers the second point.

Please excuse my knowledge about law.

If it's the third one, then I'd turn her to the police. Sure, maybe they have a motive or such like that and the person deserves it, but it's still a crime, and no matter how terrible a person is to you, killing him/her out of revenge is really low.

If it's the last one... I'd question her mental health.

I opened this thread expecting to see everyone defending their best friends unquestionably and now I feel weird.

...needless to say, I wouldn't tell anyone. I'd not even ask for any further details because they don't matter. My best friend just killed somebody. No-one can know about this. It's literally that simple in my head.

If my best friend murdered someone it would probably be me. (So the answer would be no)

Real answer: unequivocally yes.

You bet I'd cover their ass. I'd do it for a lot of people.

That said, if their reasons were iffy with me, I would set up an automatic message to send out on a date maybe 6 months in the future with details of that murder that I'd been hiding. That way, if I were to be killed by them, they wouldn't get away with killing me.

But I wouldn't outright rat even if their reasons were dodgy. I'd just be wary. 8D

itt: George calls murder potentially reasonable if one of his bffs commits it.

ps: can I just note that this is actually a reasonably engaging topic and commend that because idk not many topics have been really lighting my fire lately. 8D

Well, it depends. But I'm loyal to a fault. A blessing and a curse. So if certain criteria are met, and because I have the guarantee of the cloak of the "perfect crime", yes. A best friend is a best friend and . . . I'd love my best friend. Once you're in my circle you're family, and we look out for one another.

I'd do everything for my best friend, unlike some people.