Homicide Flashcards
Common law murder
The unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought
Malice aforethought when there is:
-Intent to kill (including intentional use of a deadly weapon)
-Intent to inflict great bodily injury
-Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life (“depraved heart”)
-Intent to commit a felony (felony murder)
Majority/MPC murder classifications
First degree murder
-Deliberate and premeditated
-Felony murder
-Homicide of police officer (in some states)
Second degree murder
-Assume second degree murder unless it fits into first degree categories
-Includes depraved heart killing
Deliberate and premeditated first degree murder
D made the decision to kill in a cool and dispassionate manner and actually reflect on the idea of killing, even if only for a brief period
-Specific intent (premeditated intent to kill)
-If D was so intoxicated that she was unable to premeditate, she can only be convicted of second degree or common law murder
First degree felony murder
Any death, even an accidental death, caused during the commission of an enumerated felony including:
-Burglary
-Arson
-Rape
-Robbery (most tested)
-Kidnapping
Malice is implied from the intent to commit the underlying felony
Limitations on the felony murder rule
- A defense that negates an element (including intent) of the underlying offense will also be a defense to felony murder
-Tested with specific intent crimes (voluntary intoxication and unreasonable mistake of fact) - Felony must be distinct from the killing itself
-i.e., aggravated battery that causes a victim’s death is not an underlying felony that qualifies for felony murder - Death must have been a foreseeable result of the felony
- Once D reaches a place of “temporary safety,” subsequent deaths are not felony murder
- D is not liable for felony murder when a co-felon is killed as a result of resistance from the victim or law enforcement
-Agency cause (majority): felony murder liability only when the felon or accomplice kills an innocent victim
-Proximate cause theory: also liable for deaths of innocent victims caused by someone other than a co-felon (i.e., law enforcement)
Homicide of police officer
- D must know the victim is a law enforcement officer; and
- The victim must be acting in the line of duty
First degree murder
Voluntary manslaughter
A killing that would be murder but for the existence of “adequate provocation”:
-Sudden and intense passion (reasonable person standard)
-D lost control
-Not enough time for a sufficient person to cool off
-D did not cool off
*If there is adequate provocation, then the murder can only be reduced to voluntary manslaughter
*Adequate provocation often arises when a person finds a spouse in bed with another or is a victim of serious battery
Imperfect self-defense
Murder that is reduced to voluntary manslaughter even though D’s actions do not qualify for self defense because:
-D started the altercation; or
-D unreasonably but honestly believed in the necessity of responding with deadly murder
Involuntary manslaughter
A killing committed:
-With criminal negligence or by recklessness (substantial risk) under the MPC (i.e., driving a car recklessly); or
-During the commission of an unlawful (misdemeanor or non-enumerated felony)
Distinguish from depraved heart murder, which requires a high risk a death
Causation
D’s conduct must be both the cause-in-fact (“but-for”) and proximate cause (“natural and probably consequence of the conduct”) of the victim’s death
-Acts that hasten an inevitable result are still the legal cause
-Simultaneous acts of two or more persons may be independently sufficient causes of a single result
-A victim’s preexisting fragility, even if unforeseeable, does not break the causal chain
Causation limitation
An intervening act shields D from liability if the act is a coincidence or not foreseeable
-A third part’s negligent medical care and the victim’s refusal of medical treatment for religious reasons are both foreseeable risks
