Crim Law Homicide

Common law murder

Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought

States of mind for common law malice aforethought

Intent to kill; intent to inflict GBI; reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life ("depraved heart”); or intent to commit a felony. Intentional use of a deadly weapon authorizes a permissive inference of intent to kill.

First Degree Murder Required Circumstances

Deliberate and Premeditated murder; First Degree Felony Murder; Specific methods varying by state; and often the murder of a peace officer

Deliberate and Premeditated First Degree Murder

D must have made the decision to kill in a cool and dispassionate manner and actually reflected on the idea of killing, even if only for a brief period. D must have acted with intent or knowledge that their conduct could cause death

First Degree Felony Murder

A killing committed during the commission of an enumerated felony is felony murder. The most common felonies listed are: burglary, arson, rape, robbery, and kidnapping. In most states, killing during another other felony is a second degree felony murder. Some states do not enumerate the felonies.

Second Degree Murder

If the jurisdiction divides murder into degrees, second degree murder is usually a depraved heart killing or any murder that is not classified as first degree murder

Felony Murder, generally

Any death, even an accidental death, caused in the commission of, or in attempt to commit, a felony is murder. Malice is implied from intent to commit the underlying felony. Many states enumerate the felonies that may serve as the basis for felony murder.

Limitations on Felony Murder Liability: Defenses

A defense than negates an element of the underlying offense will also be a defense to felony murder

Felony Murder: Distinction

The underlying felony must be distinct from the killing itself.

Felony Murder: Foreseeable Death

Most jurisdictions require that death must have been a foreseeable result of the felony. A minority of courts require only that the felony be malum in se

Felony Murder and Immediate Flight

The death must have been causes before the defendant’s immediate flight from the felony ended. Once the felon has reached a place of “temporary safety” subsequent deaths are not felony murder

Felony Murder: Co-felon death

In most jurisdictions, the defendant is not liable for felony murder when a cofelon is killed as a result of resistance from the felony victim or the police. The defendant is still liable for felony murder for other deaths even if the co-felon dies.

Felony Murder Proximate Cause theory

Felons are liable for the deaths of innocent victims caused by someone other than a co-felon

Felony Murder Agency Theory

A defendant can only be guilty of felony murder if the felon or an accomplice commits the killing, with exceptions for situations such as human shields.

Voluntary Manslaughter Basic elements

Voluntary manslaughter is a killing that would be murder but for the existence of adequate provocation. Provocation is adequate only if: it would arouse sudden and intense passion in the mind of an ordinary person; the defendant was in fact provoked; there was not sufficient time between provocation and killing for the passions of a reasonable person to cool; and the defendant did not in fact cool off between the provocation and the killing

Voluntary Manslaughter: Sudden and Intense Passion typical situations

Common examples include the exposure to a threat of deadly force, finding a spouse in bed with another, and being the victim of a serious battery

Imperfect Self-Defense Doctrine

Some states recognize “imperfect self-defense” under which murder may be reduced to manslaughter even though: (1) the defendant was at fault in starting the altercation; or (2) the defendant unreasonably but honestly believed in the necessity of responding with deadly force

Involuntary manslaughter requirements

Involuntary manslaughter is a killing: (1) committed with criminal negligence (or MPC recklessness); or (2) in some states, during the commission of an unlawful act that does not amount to felony murder

Involuntary Manslaughter vs Depraved Heart

Depraved heart Murder at common law involves a high risk of death while involuntary manslaughter based on recklessness requires only a substantial risk

Homicide Proximate Cause Quirks

An act that hastens an inevitable result is still the legal cause of that result. Simultaneous acts of two or more persons may be independently sufficient causes of a single result. A victim’s particular weakness, even if unforeseeable, does not break causation. Traditionally (abolished by most states) the victim must die within a year and a day from infliction of injury for a defendant to be liable. Generally, an intervening act shields the defendant from liability if the act is coincidence or outside the foreseeable risk created by the defendant. A third party’s negligent medical care or the victim’s refusal of medical treatment are both foreseeable