Homicide

Question 1

What are the three overall homicide schemes?

Answer 1

Common law; Pennsylvania Model; Model Penal Code (MPC)

Question 2

What are the 4 common law malice murder options?

Answer 2

1. Intent (purpose or knowledge) to kill
2. Intent to inflict grievous bodily harm
3. Depraved heart murder
4. Felony murder

Question 3

What are the 3 degrees of murder under the Pennsylvania Model?

Answer 3

First Degree

Second Degree

Manslaughter

Question 4

What is common law intent to kill?

Answer 4

Express malice - awareness that the death of another would result from one’s actions

Question 5

What is common law depraved-heart murder?

Answer 5

Unintentional homicide with a “depraved mind” or “abandoned and malignant heart”

Question 6

What is the felony-murder rule generally

Answer 6

Strict liability for homicide committed during the commission of a felony

Question 7

What is common law manslaughter?

Answer 7

The unlawful killing of a human being without malice - either voluntary or involuntary

Question 8

Are there degrees of murder in the common law?

Answer 8

No

Question 9

What is first degree murder?

Answer 9

(1) Intent to kill with a specified manner of killing; or (2) intent to kill that is premeditated, deliberate, and willful; or (3) felony murder with enumerated felonies (ex: robbery, rape)

Question 10

What is second degree murder?

Answer 10

(1) Intent to kill but no premeditation; (2) intent to inflict grievous bodily harm; (3) depraved heart; (4) felony murder with no enumerated felony

Question 11

What is manslaughter under the Pennsylvania Model?

Answer 11

(1) Voluntary (heat of passion); (2) involuntary (criminal gross negligence)

Question 12

What is the rule from State v. Guthrie? (homicide)

Answer 12

To constitute first-degree murder, the defendant must have had some period of time between the development of the intent to kill and the actual killing to indicate that the act was premeditated and deliberate and not impulsive.

Question 13

What is the rule from Midgett v. State? (homicide)

Answer 13

The crime of first degree murder generally requires the killing to be premeditated and deliberate. (Father beating child was not premeditated or deliberate)

Question 14

What is the rule from State v. Forrest? (homicide)

Answer 14

A conviction for murder in the first degree requires substantial evidence of premeditation and deliberation, which may be proven through circumstantial evidence. (Case where son shot father in the head in hospital)

Question 15

What is “heat of passion” manslaughter?

Answer 15

Reasonable person standard:
(1) Adequate provocation
(2) Acted in the “heat of passion”
(3) No reasonable opportunity to cool off
(4) Causal link between provocation, passion, and homicide

Question 16

What is the rule from Girouard v. State? (homicide)

Answer 16

For provocation to be adequate to mitigate murder to manslaughter, the provocation must be calculated to inflame the passion of a reasonable person and tend to cause him to act for the moment from passion rather than reason. (Case where wife insults husband, husband stabs her and kills her)

Question 17

What is manslaughter under the MPC? (§ 210.3)

Answer 17

Manslaughter is criminal homicide when:
- Committed recklessly, or
- Committed under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance for which there is a reasonable explanation or excuse
- (EMED) MPC § 210.3: killings committed (a) recklessly or (b) under the influence of “extreme mental or emotional disturbance” for which there is reasonable expectation or excuse constitute manslaughter (EMED Mitigation)

Question 18

What is the rule from People v. Casassa? (homicide)

Answer 18

A defendant may reduce a charge of murder to manslaughter if he is able to show “extreme emotional disturbance” and that there was a reasonable explanation or excuse for his actions as determined by the court from both a subjective and objective analysis. (EMED)

Question 19

What was the rule from People v. Knoller? (homicide)

Answer 19

A finding of implied malice (depraved heart) requires that one act with a conscious disregard to human life. (case where two attorneys have custody of four large, dangerous dogs. One of the dogs kills a neighbor)

Question 20

What makes a heart “depraved” or “abandoned and malignant?”

Answer 20

“an utter callousness toward the value of human life and a complete and total indifference as to whether one’s conduct will create the requisite risk of death of another” - UT Supreme Court

Question 21

What is the MPC approach to depraved heart murder?

Answer 21

• Extreme Recklessness: (murder) homicide “committed recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life
• Recklessness: (manslaughter): homicide committed recklessly (under the MPC’s definition of recklessness)

Question 22

What is the rule from State v. Williams? (homicide) (NOT the majority rule)

Answer 22

If a person commits ordinary negligence, i.e. fails to exercise ordinary caution that a reasonable person would exercise under the same or similar circumstances, and such negligence proximately causes the death of another, the person is guilty of involuntary manslaughter. (NOT majority rule: common law and MPC require GROSS negligence)

Question 23

What is the rule from People v. Fuller? (homicide)

Answer 23

Under the felony-murder rule, a death resulting from the commission of a dangerous felony is murder. (here, the defendant stole tires from an empty van which was burglary)

Question 24

What is the MPC’s take on the felony-murder rule?

Answer 24

Presumed malice when committing robbery, rape, or deviate sexual intercourse by force or threat of force, arson, burglary, kidnapping, or felonious escape (MPC § 210.2.(1)(b))

Question 25

What are the 3 felony murder limitations?

Answer 25

(1) The “Inherently Dangerous Felony” Limitation
(2) The “Independent Felony” (or Merger) Limitation
(3) Killings “in the Perpetration” or “in Furtherance” of a Felony

Question 26

What is the rule from Fisher v. State (homicide)?

Answer 26

The second-degree felony-murder rule applies to deaths that occur during the perpetuation of an inherently dangerous felony as determined by the circumstances of the specific case. (child abuse case)

Question 27

What is the rule and court’s reasoning from people v. Smith? (homicide)

Answer 27

A felony that is assaultive in nature cannot serve as the basis of a felony murder charge unless the felony was committed with an independent felonious purpose.
Court follows a two-part inquiry:
(1) Is the felony an integral part of and included in fact within the homicide? If not, no merger. If yes, proceed to (2).
(2) Did the homicide result from conduct for an independent felonious purpose (as opposed to a single course of conduct with a single purpose? If yes, no merger. If no, merger.

Question 28

What is the rule from State v. Sophophone? (homicide)

Answer 28

Where a killing is the lawful act of a non-felon, the felony-murder rule is inapplicable.

Question 29

What are the two approaches to addressing the application of the felony-murder rule in cases committed by non-felons?

Answer 29

Agency Approach (majority approach)
- The acts of the primary party are imputed to an accomplice on the basis of the agency doctrine (your acts are my acts); AKA: It doesn’t matter who the victim is, it matters who the killer is

Proximate Causation Approach (minority approach)
- Res gestae has temporal, distance, and causation components – must be relative proximity to underlying felony for felony-murder rule to apply