The Republic of Heaven

Was Will wanted? How could they know he killed that dude? The other guy only saw Will running away. I dunno. Anyone know?

Pan1234

Well he was"wanted" by someone, since at Mary's office, the "police" (they may have been police; I don't know) tricked Lyra into saying she knew him, and the blonde guy had gone to see the lawyer he called. Oh, and there was that scene in the park where Lyra had to put the polcemen off track by asking directions somewhere, and she said the police had been looking at Will. So he seems to have been wanted.

sir charles also said there was a very good picture of will in the newspaper. the other accomplice of the dude that got murdered would have naturally assumed that the only other person in the house (will) would be the murderer.

yeah, thats true. But Will could just lie and say he didnt kill him and that the man tripped over the cat-but thats more Lyraish. Maybe Lyra rubbed off on him....Of course, the man DID trip over the cat.

murder

mur·der [múrdər]
n (plural mur·ders)

law crime of killing somebody: the crime of killing another person deliberately and not in self-defense or with any other extenuating circumstance recognized by law

Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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will technically isn't a murderer. he (with the help of a lawyer) would easily be able to sort it out (would he be tried as a child?) however, the alethiometer might not distinguish the difference when lyra was simply asking whether or not she could trust will or not.

it was more like manslaughter

A good lawyer isn't something Will (or Mary) can afford. He would certainly be helped by the fact that law-enforcement agents were in his house without announcing themselves and (presumably) without a search warrant. I doubt the two men involved (and definitely not their fairly anonymous backer) would like to stand in court and give evidence.

Forensics would also be able to pick up the cat hairs on the dead men to add weight to Will's story.

either way... will couldn't be found guilty without a lot of work on the part of sir charles' people.

it was more like manslaughter

manslaughter still means intent to harm...

it was more like manslaughter

manslaughter still means intent to harm...

Not always...if you run over someone in a car it's considered manslaughter even if it was an accident, I think.

Why's everyone assuming that the guy was a cop? It could have just been one of Boreal's goons.

The policemen could have just been looking at Will because he should have been in school...(assuming the time of day was right, but I don't have my copies of HDM handy)

The policemen could have just been looking at Will because he should have been in school...(assuming the time of day was right, but I don't have my copies of HDM handy)

That's very likely since when he was looking in the library for info on his father, he had to come up with that story about doing research for a school thing or something...

The policemen could have just been looking at Will because he should have been in school...(assuming the time of day was right, but I don't have my copies of HDM handy)

Good point.

are there truancy police in england?

yes

They also could have thought it was odd that both he and his mother had disappeared and left the cat and all their stuff.

To the police probably...
It leaves a doubt...
Will was no murderer until later in the trilogy I believe.

They also could have thought it was odd that both he and his mother had disappeared and left the cat and all their stuff.

How long would it take the police to find Mrs Parry and ask her about her son...hmm...a day?

Wouldn't Sir Charles have mentioned Mrs. Parry to Will if she'd been found when he said he'd seen Will's picture in the paper? Besides, how likely are they to investigate Will's former piano teacher's home?

but would the piano teachery lady freak out when she found out that will was a suspect in the murder of a government dude?

true...