Homicide Flashcards
Common law homicide categories
- Murder
2. Manslaughter
Common law murder
Killing of another human being with malice aforethought
Malice aforethought consists of 4 forms of murder:
- Intent to kill – purposely or knowingly (express malice)
- Intent to inflict grievous bodily injury on another
- Depraved heart murder (extreme recklessness)
- Felony murder
Common law manslaughter
- Voluntary: Intentional killing of another, but without malice aforethought
Requires:
– Adequate provocation (conduct that causes a person of average temperament to act out of passion) - words alone NOT enough to satisfy
– Heat of passion
– No reasonable opportunity to cool off (whether a reasonable person in D’s situation would have calmed down) - Involuntary
- - Criminally negligent killing (gross negligence): Unknowingly taking a substantial and unjustifiable risk that results in the death of another, for which a reasonable person in D’s situation would have been aware
- - Unlawful Act Doctrine (misdemeanor manslaughter rule): Unintended death occurring during the commission of an unlawful act (misdemeanor or felony not enumerated under F-M doctrine)
Felony murder doctrine
A person is guilty of murder if they kill another person, even accidentally, in the commission or attempt to commission a felony
Limitations:
- Inherently dangerous felony
- - Abstract approach: only look at elements of the crime; not the facts
- - As applied approach: Look at whether the crime was committed in an inherently dangerous way (depends on facts of the case) - Independent felony limitation (merger)
Killing by a non-felon
- Agency approach (majority): If anyone other than anyone associated with the felon (co-conspirator, accomplice) commits the homicidal act, the felony murder doctrine does not apply; cannot impute the acts of non-felons onto felons
- Proximate cause approach (minority): One can be convicted of any death that is a direct and foreseeable consequence of the actions of those committing a felony
Only common law; MPC does not adopt F-M
MPC homicide categories
- Murder
- Manslaughter
- Negligent Homicide
MPC murder
- Killing committed purposely or knowingly, or
2. Killing committed recklessly under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life
MPC manslaughter
- Killing that is committed recklessly (ordinary recklessness), or
- Killing that occurs as a result of extreme mental or emotional disturbance for which there is a reasonable explanation or excuse (EMED) – did it arouse the amount of sympathy that an ordinary person would feel if they were in a similar situation, or is it too particular to this defendant that it is not universally relatable?
Negligent homicide
Person negligently kills another
Gross negligence which causes death
Equivalent to CL involuntary manslaughter of the “criminally negligent” type
Statutory scheme for homicide
Creates degrees of murder
1st Degree
- Killing perpetrated by poison
- Lying in wait (planned, waiting to ambush)
- Intentional killing w/ premeditation and deliberation
- Death that results during specifically enumerated felonies (felony murder)
2nd Degree (all other kinds of killings w/ malice aforethought)
- Intent to cause grievous bodily injury
- Depraved heart
- Non enumerated felony
- Intentional killings without premeditation and deliberation
Premeditation and deliberation
Examining the duration of time required between forming the intent and acting on that intent
Premeditation: Planning, thinking about beforehand
- Quantity of time thinking
- People v. Morrin - A time interval long enough to afford a reasonable person time to subject the nature of his response to a second look
Deliberation: Mulling it over, weighing a choice
- Quality of the thinking process
- Evaluative process
