Complete tangent: who killed [C]? I'm not sure that question has an answer
It seems to me that B did (assuming the cause of C's death was thirst), although A is guilty of attempted murder. I think the situation is equivalent to A and B each trying to shoot C, and A missing and B succeeding. (Which seems more straightforward.) A's poisoning attempt was thwarted by forces outside his control, but the victim was killed by someone else.
I think the objection "but if B hadn't acted, C would still have died" is a red herring. In the shooting example, maybe A wouldn't have missed if B hadn't appeared and startled C, causing him to leap out of the way; but I don't think that changes the charges of attempted murder and murder respectively.
no subject
who killed [C]? I'm not sure that question has an answer
It seems to me that B did (assuming the cause of C's death was thirst), although A is guilty of attempted murder. I think the situation is equivalent to A and B each trying to shoot C, and A missing and B succeeding. (Which seems more straightforward.) A's poisoning attempt was thwarted by forces outside his control, but the victim was killed by someone else.
I think the objection "but if B hadn't acted, C would still have died" is a red herring. In the shooting example, maybe A wouldn't have missed if B hadn't appeared and startled C, causing him to leap out of the way; but I don't think that changes the charges of attempted murder and murder respectively.