{"id":13226,"date":"2018-02-07T05:29:53","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T05:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=13226"},"modified":"2018-02-27T17:29:20","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T17:29:20","slug":"murder","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=13226","title":{"rendered":"Murder – the killing of a human being with malice aforethought"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This page is continued from Criminal Law Self-Help<\/a> >>>> Crimes and Corresponding Laws<\/a> >>>> Forms of Homicide<\/a> >>>> Criminal (felonious) Homicide<\/a>:<\/span>
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murder<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong>
\n(bef. 12c)<\/span><\/p>\n

1. The killing of a human being with malice aforethought.\u00a0 *\u00a0 At common law, the crime of murder was not subdivided, but many state statutes have adopted the degree structure outlined below, though the Model Penal Code has not. Model Penal Code \u00a7 210.2<\/span>.<\/strong>
\nSee MALICE AFORETHOUGHT. \u2014 murder<\/strong><\/em><\/span>, <\/span>vb<\/em>. \u2014 murderous<\/strong><\/em><\/span>, adj<\/em>. [1]
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A technical term or word of art which can be defined with particularity only by resort to the specific. statute in the jurisdiction involved. Re Kirby, 162 Cal 91, 121 P 370<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

At common law, the killing of one human being by another with malice aforethought, either express or implied, that is, with deliberate intent or formed design to kill. 26 Am J1st Homi \u00a7 11<\/span>; Wiley v State<\/em>, 19 Ariz 346, 170 P 869<\/span>; Commonwealth v Buzard<\/em>, 365 Pa 511, 76 AM 394, 22 ALR2d 846<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The inte<\/span><\/strong>ntional killing of a human being without legal justification or excuse and under circumstances insufficient to reduce the crime to manslaughter. 26 Am J1st Homi \u00a7 11<\/span>.<\/strong> [2]<\/span>
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1. The intentional and premeditated killing of a human being (first degree murder); the intentional killing of\u00a0 a human being, without premeditation, but with malice aforethought, express or implied (second degree murder).\u00a0 Under most state statutes, a homicide that occurs during the commission of a felony is first degree murder, as are homicides perpetrated by ling in wait, torture, poison, and other criminal acts from which premeditation or deliberation can be inferred.\u00a0 Similarly,\u00a0 a homicide that results from deliberately doing a dangerous or deadly act with disregard for the safety of others is second degree murder, malice being inferred from the act itself.<\/strong> [3]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from Theodore F.T. Plucknett’s A Concise History of the Common Law<\/em><\/a> (5th ed. 1956):<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe word \u2018murder\u2019 has . . . had a devious history.\u00a0 Its original sense is the particularly heinous crime of secret slaying.\u00a0 After the conquest it was observed that Normans were frequently found dead under mysterious circumstances, and so William I enacted that if anyone were found slain and the slayer were not caught, then the hundred should pay a fine; this fine is a murdrum.\u00a0 The practice soon grew up to taking inquests and if it were presented that the dead man was English, then the fine was not due.\u00a0 In 1267 it was enacted that accidental deaths should not give rise to murdrum, and finally in 1340 presentment of Englishry and murdrum were abolished. Henceforth the word slowly tends to get linked up with \u2018malice aforethought\u2019 and so we get the classical formulae describing the crime of murder.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [4]
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Varying Types and Degrees of Murder:<\/span><\/strong>
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open murder<\/span> – 1. An unsolved homicide.\u00a0 2. A charge presenting the elements of both first and second-degree murder.\u00a0 *\u00a0 The jury<\/a> must decide whether to convict of either first- or second-degree murder (but not both) based on the evidence.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

first degree murder<\/span><\/a> – willful, deliberate, or premeditated murder, or murder committed during the course of another dangerous felony.<\/strong> \u2014 aka murder of the first degree<\/span><\/strong><\/em>; murder one<\/span><\/strong><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n