Murder Flashcards
R v Clegg
Unlawful killing
D’s lack of ‘wicked or evil’ motive did not preclude his actions from being unlawful
R v Malcherek and Steel
Death, Unlawful killing
Confirms the ‘brain stem’ as the current medical test for death
R v Inglis
Death, Reasonable creature in being
‘A disabled life, even a life lived at the extremes of disability, is not one jot less precious than the life of an able-bodied person’
A-G Ref No.3 of 1994
Reasonable creature in being
‘Murder or manslaughter can be committed where… the child is subsequently born alive enjoys an existence independent of the mother, therefore dies’
Dance v Mid-Downes Health Authority
Reasonable creature in being
A fetus is a human being where it is capable of living and breathing through its own lungs without any connection to its mother
R v Vickers
Mens rea
Lord Goddard CJ: ‘’malice aforethought’ has always been defined in English law as either an express intention to kill… or implied where, by a voluntary act, the accused intended to cause GBH to the V, and the V dies as the result’
DPP v Smith
Mens rea - Lord Mustill
‘Grevious means no more and no less than really serious’
R v Saunders
Mens rea - intent to cause serious harm
The word ‘serious’ could be safely omitted
R v Janjua and Choudhury
Mens rea - intent to cause serious harm
The word ‘serious’ could be safely omitted
Murder plan
Issue - Murder is a common law offence, indictable defence, therefore only triable by jury in Crown Court and mandatory life sentence
- requires AR and MR
Define - defined by 17th century judge Lord Coke as the ‘unlawful killing of a reasonable person in being under the King’s peace, with malice aforethought expressed or implied’
Actus reus:
- ‘Unlawful killing of a human being’
- 4 components:
- Unlawful killing - R v Clegg
- D’s act or omission must unlawfully kill the V
- Few exceptions if killing is legally justified e.g., doctors turning off life support, act of war
- Causation (normal rules apply)
- Death - R v Malcherek and Steel
- Medical test not a legal one. Currently means ‘brain stem death’
- Reasonable creature in being - A-G Ref No.3 of 1994, R v Inglis, Dance v Mid-Downes Health Authority
- Means human being. The test is ‘when’ is a human being, not ‘what’
- Foetus - when is a human capable of existence independent of the mother? (Means born alive and breathing)
- Brain dead - since brain stem is confirmed place of death, if a doctor turns off life support, it won’t be murder V is already brain dead from D’s act/omission
Apply all……
Causation (under AR) - Lord Woolf in R v HM Coroner for Inner London ex parte Douglas-Williams
- Factual: But for test - R v Pagett
- Legal: De minimus principle - Lord Woolf - R v Kimsey
Apply + cases for causation …..
Mens rea:
- ‘Malice aforethought expressed or implied’ - ‘MA’ - meaning ‘intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm’
- Murder is specific intent crime - recklessness is not sufficient
- Cases - Lord Goddard CJ in R v Vickers, R v Woollin
- Can be direct or oblique intent:
- Direct intent and apply - R v Janjua and Choudhury
- Test: where the D’s main aim or purpose was to bring about the prohibited consequence
- Oblique intent and apply - DPP v Smith, R v Saunders
- Test: where it’s not the D’s main aim or purpose to bring about the prohibited result, but he foresees that the result is virtually certain to occur because of his actions
Apply…..
Prima facie case of murder
- Latin expression ‘at first sight’
- Sufficient, initial evidence showing that D was at crime scene and had motive
Defences:
- Voluntary manslaughter (LoC or DR)
- Novus actus interveniens (under causation)
- Automatism
- Intoxication
Conclusion - If D satisfies all elements of the actus reus and mens rea, with no interveing acts and is the sole cause of the consequence, then D is liable of murder n
R v Woollin
The intention for murder requires foresight of virtual certainty, not merely substantial risk of death or serious harm
