Homicide Flashcards
What is common law murder?
Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Malice aforethought exists if there are no facts reducing the killing to voluntary manslaughter or excusing it (that is, giving rise to a defense) and it was committed with one of the following states of mind:
• Intent to kill
• Intent to inflict great bodily injury
• Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life (“abandoned and malignant heart” or “depraved heart”); or
• Intent to commit a felony (felony murder)
Intentional use of a deadly weapon authorizes a permissive inference of intent to kill.
What is first degree murder?
A murder will be second degree murder (similar to common law murder) unless it comes under the following circumstances, which would make it first degree murder:
a. Deliberate and Premeditated First Degree Murder
If the defendant made the decision to kill in a cool and dispassionate manner and actually reflected on the idea of killing, even if only for a very brief period, it is first degree murder. The defendant must have acted with intent or knowledge that their conduct would cause death.
b. First Degree Felony Murder
In many states, a killing committed during the commission of an enumerated felony is felony murder and called first degree murder. The felonies most commonly listed are burglary, arson, rape, robbery, and kidnapping, but other felonies that are inherently dangerous to human life are often specifically added. Another statute (or case) may provide that a killing during any felony is felony murder, but the killing will typically be classified as second degree felony murder. Some other states do not list the felonies that may be used for felony murder at all, and the first degree murder classification is most often attached. Some states require that the felony be inherently dangerous to human life or the felony be dangerous to human life as committed.
c. Others
Some statutes make killings performed in certain ways (for example, by torture) or with certain victims first degree murder. Many states make the homicide of a police officer first degree murder. The defendant must know the victim is a law enforcement officer, and the victim must be acting in the line of duty.
What is second degree murder?
If the jurisdiction divides murder into degrees, second degree murder is usually classified as a depraved heart killing (a killing done with a reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life) or any murder that is not classified as a first degree murder.
What is felony murder?
Any death—even an accidental death—caused in the commission of, or in an attempt to commit, a felony is murder. Malice is implied from the intent to commit the underlying felony
What felonies are included?
At common law, there are only a handful of felonies (such as burglary, arson, rape, etc.). Statutes today have created many more felonies.
What are the limitations on liability?
There are several limitations on this rule:
(1) The defendant must have committed or attempted to commit the underlying felony; a defense that negates an element of the underlying offense will also be a defense to felony murder.
(2) The felony must be distinct from the killing itself (for example, commission of aggravated battery that causes a victim’s death does not qualify as an underlying felony for felony murder liability).
(3) Death must have been a foreseeable result of the felony (a minority of courts require only that the felony be malum in se).
(4) The death must have been caused 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.
(5) In most jurisdictions, the defendant is not liable for felony murder when a co-felon is killed as a result of resistance from the felony victim or the police.
Under the “proximate cause” theory, felons are liable for the deaths of innocent victims caused by someone other than a co-felon. Under the alternative “agency” theory of felony murder, the killing must be committed by a felon or their “agent” (that is, an accomplice) with limited exceptions in cases in which the victim was used as a shield or otherwise forced by the felon to occupy a dangerous place.
What is voluntary manslaughter?
Voluntary manslaughter is a killing that would be murder but for the existence of adequate provocation. Provocation is adequate only if:
• It was a provocation that would arouse sudden and intense passion in the mind of an ordinary person, causing them to lose self-control (for example, exposure to a threat of deadly force, finding your spouse in bed with another, or being a victim of a serious battery)
• The defendant was in fact provoked
• There was not sufficient time between provocation (or provocations) and the killing for passions of a reasonable person to cool; and
• The defendant in fact did not cool off between the provocation and the killing
What is the imperfect self-defense?
Some states recognize an “imperfect self-defense” doctrine 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 (meaning the defendant’s actions do not qualify for self-defense).
What is involuntary manslaughter?
A killing is involuntary manslaughter if it was committed:
• With criminal negligence (or by “recklessness” under the M.P.C.) or
• In some states, during the commission of an unlawful act (misdemeanor or felony not included within felony murder rule). Foreseeability of death also may be a requirement.
What is abandoned and malignant heart murder?
Abandoned and malignant heart murder at common law involves a high risk of death while involuntary manslaughter based on recklessness requires only a substantial risk.
What is causation?
The defendant’s conduct must be both the cause-in-fact and the proximate cause of the victim’s death.
What is cause in fact?
A defendant’s conduct is the cause-in-fact of the result if the result would not have occurred “but for” the defendant’s conduct.
What is proximate causation?
A defendant’s conduct is the proximate cause of the result if the result is a natural and probable consequence of the conduct, even if the defendant did not anticipate the precise manner in which the result occurred. Superseding factors break the chain of proximate causation.
What are the rules of causation?
An act that hastens an inevitable result is still the legal cause of that result. Also, simultaneous acts of two or more persons may be independently sufficient causes of a single result. A victim’s preexisting weakness or fragility, even if unforeseeable, does not break the chain of causation.
What are the limitations of causation?
a. Year and a Day Rule
Traditionally, for a defendant to be liable for homicide, the death of the victim must occur within one year and one day from infliction of the injury or wound. Most states that have reviewed this rule have abolished it.
b. Intervening Acts
Generally, an intervening act shields the defendant from liability if the act is a coincidence or is outside the foreseeable sphere of risk created by the defendant. Note that a third party’s negligent medical care and the victim’s refusal of medical treatment for religious reasons are both foreseeable risks, so the defendant would be liable.
