Homicide Flashcards
What are the three overall homicide schemes?
Common law; Pennsylvania Model; Model Penal Code (MPC)
What are the 4 common law malice murder options?
- Intent (purpose or knowledge) to kill
- Intent to inflict grievous bodily harm
- Depraved heart murder
- Felony murder
What are the 3 degrees of murder under the Pennsylvania Model?
First Degree
Second Degree
Manslaughter
What is common law intent to kill?
Express malice - awareness that the death of another would result from one’s actions
What is common law depraved-heart murder?
Unintentional homicide with a “depraved mind” or “abandoned and malignant heart”
What is the felony-murder rule generally
Strict liability for homicide committed during the commission of a felony
What is common law manslaughter?
The unlawful killing of a human being without malice - either voluntary or involuntary
Are there degrees of murder in the common law?
No
What is first degree murder?
(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)
What is second degree murder?
(1) Intent to kill but no premeditation; (2) intent to inflict grievous bodily harm; (3) depraved heart; (4) felony murder with no enumerated felony
What is manslaughter under the Pennsylvania Model?
(1) Voluntary (heat of passion); (2) involuntary (criminal gross negligence)
What is the rule from State v. Guthrie? (homicide)
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.
What is the rule from Midgett v. State? (homicide)
The crime of first degree murder generally requires the killing to be premeditated and deliberate. (Father beating child was not premeditated or deliberate)
What is the rule from State v. Forrest? (homicide)
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)
What is “heat of passion” manslaughter?
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
What is the rule from Girouard v. State? (homicide)
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)
What is manslaughter under the MPC? (§ 210.3)
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)
What is the rule from People v. Casassa? (homicide)
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)
What was the rule from People v. Knoller? (homicide)
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)
What makes a heart “depraved” or “abandoned and malignant?”
“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
What is the MPC approach to depraved heart murder?
- 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)
What is the rule from State v. Williams? (homicide) (NOT the majority rule)
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)
What is the rule from People v. Fuller? (homicide)
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)
What is the MPC’s take on the felony-murder rule?
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))
What are the 3 felony murder limitations?
(1) The “Inherently Dangerous Felony” Limitation
(2) The “Independent Felony” (or Merger) Limitation
(3) Killings “in the Perpetration” or “in Furtherance” of a Felony
What is the rule from Fisher v. State (homicide)?
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)
What is the rule and court’s reasoning from people v. Smith? (homicide)
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.
What is the rule from State v. Sophophone? (homicide)
Where a killing is the lawful act of a non-felon, the felony-murder rule is inapplicable.
What are the two approaches to addressing the application of the felony-murder rule in cases committed by non-felons?
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
