Chapter 8 Criminal Homicide Notes

Chapter 8 Objectives

  • Distinguish between homicide and criminal homicide.

  • Understand rules defining when life begins and ends regarding criminal homicide.

  • Identify essential elements of murder.

  • Explain the felony murder rule.

  • Differentiate between first-degree and second-degree murder.

  • Describe Model Penal Code's definition of murder.

  • Distinguish between justification and excuse defenses.

  • Discuss differences in voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, and murder.

8.1 Homicide

  • Homicide: The killing of one human being by another.

  • Criminal Homicide: Causing another person’s death with criminal intent and without lawful justification or excuse.

  • Malice Aforethought:

    • Mental states indicating intent to kill, cause grievous bodily injury, show extreme recklessness for human life, or commit a felony resulting in death.

The Beginning of Life

  • Feticide and Criminal Abortions: Definition of a human may include unborn children; critical to legal interpretations.

  • Born-Alived Rule: Criminal homicide definitions often hinge on whether a child is born alive.

Four Stages of Fetal Homicide

  1. Viability: Fetus can survive outside the womb (5-6 months).

  2. Quickening: First fetal movements (4-5 months).

  3. Embryo to Fetus Transition: 7-8 weeks after conception.

  4. Conception: Beginning of fetal life.

Infanticide

  • Killing of a newborn (infanticide) is considered homicide if:

    • Child was born alive and separated from the mother.

    • Showed independent respiration and heartbeat.

The End of Life

  • For an act to qualify as homicide, the victim must be alive during the act.

  • Uniform Determination of Death Act: Defines death via irreversible cessation of circulatory/respiratory functions or brain activity.

8.2 Elements of Criminal Homicide

Five Basic Elements:

  1. Act or Omission.

  2. Causing Death.

  3. Of Another Human Being.

  4. With Criminally Culpable Mens Rea.

  5. Without Lawful Justification or Excuse.

Premeditation and Deliberation

  • Indicates a conscious, cold-blooded mind at the time of the killing.

Corpus Delicti Requirement

  1. Proof that a crime occurred: The victim must be proven to be dead as a result of the accused's act.

  2. Actus Reus: The act must be voluntary (e.g., not due to sleepiness).

  3. Mens Rea: Critical to understand the defendant’s mindset during the crime.

  4. Model Penal Code: Defines criminal homicide, differentiating between murder and manslaughter.

  5. Inference of Mens Rea: Evidence surrounding death to establish intent.

Causation in Homicide

  • Causation Requirement:

    • Victim must be alive when the defendant's act occurred.

    • If not, no criminal homicide charge.

  • Year-and-a-Day Rule: Victim must die within a year and a day of the act.

  • Causation Tests:

    • “But-For” Test: The victim wouldn't have died without the accused's actions.

    • “Substantial Factor” Test: Multiple forces causing death may link to liability of multiple defendants.

Without Lawful Justification or Excuse

  • Justification: Right to act in self-defense but not to protect property only.

  • Excuse: Circumstances define actions lacking moral culpability.

8.3 Types and Degrees of Criminal Homicide

  • Types of killing: Murder (with malice), voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter (without malice).

8.4 Murder

  • Essential elements: actus reus, mens rea, causation, death, lack of justification.

  • Malice Aforethought: Indicates an abandoned and malignant state of mind.

  • Felony Murder Rule: Killing during the commission of a felony implies intent for murder.

Potential Victims in Felony Murder

  • Intended targets, innocent bystanders, first responders, and accomplices.

The Division of Murder into Degrees

  1. First-Degree Murder: Intentional or aggravated by premeditated acts.

  2. Second-Degree Murder: May arise in absence of premeditation.

  3. Mitigating Circumstances: Can reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter.

8.5 Manslaughter

  • Voluntary Manslaughter: Intentional killing without malice, often under provocation.

  • Imperfect Self-Defense: Mistaken belief in justifying deadly force; reducing murder to manslaughter.

  • Diminished Mental Capacity: Mental issues or intoxication as potential defenses; legal standards differ by state.