Homicide

Question 1

CL murder

Answer 1

unlawful killing with malice aforethought (aka thought of before)

IT’S AFORETHOUGHT NOT afterthought

Question 2

list (4)

How is malice aforethought established

(which remember, is needed for CL murder)

Answer 2

1. intent to kill
2. intent to inflict great bodily injury
3. reckless indifference to human life (abandon and malignant heart, depraved heart) -AND-
4. felony murder - killing during commission of an inherently dangerous felony (i.e. BARRK crimes)

Question 3

list (3)

elements for first degree murder

(aka premeditated murder)

Answer 3

1. D acted in a cool, dispassionate manner
2. had time to reflect on the idea of killing…even if a brief period of time
3. D acted with intent or knowledge that their conduct would cause death

Question 4

fist degree felony murder elements

Answer 4

killing committed during a felony (BARRK or other felonies dangerous to human life)

Question 5

what type of killing is homocide of a PO

Answer 5

1st degree murder if D knows that V is a PO and PO is killed during line of duty (even if off duty…ie officer tries to thwart a bank robbery)

Question 6

elements for 2nd degree murder

Answer 6

murder with malicious intent but lacks premeditation

intent:

1. intent to kill,
2. intent to inflict serious bodily harm,
3. or act with an abandoned heart

Question 7

Felony murder elements

Answer 7

any death, even accidental, that occurred during commission or attempt to commit a felony

Question 8

what felonies

Answer 8

BARRK + other felonies dangerous to human life→ gets us to 1st degree FM

other felonies → FM

Question 9

list (5)

limitations to FM

Answer 9

1. D must have committed or attempted to commit the underlying felony
   
   • defenses that negate felony, negate FM
2. Felony must be distinct from killing itself
3. Death must have been foreseeable
4. Death must have been caused BEFORE the D’s “immediate flight”
   
   1. because when D reaches a place of “temporary safety” any murders committed thereafter are not FM
5. D NOT liable for FM when co-felon killed

Question 10

Liability of FM under proximate cause theory

Answer 10

Felon liable for deaths of innocent victims caused by someone other** **than a co-felon

Question 11

Liability of FM under agency theory

Answer 11

only liable if the killing is committed by a felon or their agent

EXCEPTION: liable for FM under agency theory is victim was used as a shield or forced by felon to occupy a dangerous place

Question 12

Voluntary manslaughter

Answer 12

Voluntary manslaughter is a killing that would otherwise be murder but is distinguishable from murder because in MS there is the existence of adequate provocation

Question 13

list (4)

Provocation in VM is adequate only if:

Answer 13

1. provocation would arouse sudden and intense passion in the mind of an ordinary person
2. D was in fact provoked
3. No suff time/no cooling period btwn provocation and killing
4. D in fact did NOT cool off

Question 14

Involuntary manslaughter (IVM)

Answer 14

Involuntary manslaughter requires a death caused by criminal negligence or by an unlawful act.

1. Killing committed with criminal or reckless negligence -OR-
2. in some states, killing committed during commission of an unlawful act
   
   1. foreseeability of death may also be a requirement

Question 15

Abandoned and malignant heart murder vs.

Involuntary manslaughter

Answer 15

AMH at CL - requires HIGH risk of death

IVM based on recklessness - requires substantial risk of death

Question 16

To be guilty of murder or manslaugther, the defendant’s action must

Answer 16

be both the cause in fact and the proximate cause of the victim’s death.

Question 17

What causation for D’s conduct

Answer 17

1. cause in fact
2. proximate causation

Question 18

what is cause in fact

Answer 18

result would not have occured but for D’s conduct

Question 19

what is proximate causation (PC)

Answer 19

D’s conduct is proximate cause of result if the result is a natural and probable consequence of the conduct even if D did not anticipate

superseeding factors break chain of PC

Question 20

Voluntary manslaughter is a killing that would otherwise be murder but is distinguishable from murder by the existence of adequate provocation.

So, to find for VM there has to be actual basis to support a conviction for murder, but the difference is the existence of provocation which lowers it to manslaughter instead of keeping it at murder which requires forethought/planning

Question 21

Question 22

Attempted murder

Answer 22

1. specific intent to kill
2. commit act in furtherance of killing BUT
3. did not complete killing

Question 23

misdemeanor manslaughter

Answer 23

manslaughter committed under a misdemeanor