Murder
Murder: an unlawful killing committed with malice aforethought (CL).
Categories of Malice (CL)
- Intent to kill (express malice).
- Intent to do serious bodily injury.
- Depraved heart / abandoned and malignant heart (extreme recklessness manifesting indifference to human life).
- Intent to commit a felony (felony-murder rule).
Degrees (Modern Statutory)
- First Degree Murder — premeditated, deliberate, intentional; or certain enumerated felony murders.
- Second Degree Murder — all other murders (e.g., intent-to-kill without P&D, intent to do GBI, depraved heart).
- Felony Murder — death caused during the commission of (or immediate flight from) a qualifying felony.
Murder at MPC § 210.2
- Purposeful or knowing killings.
- Killings with extreme recklessness (extreme indifference to value of human life).
- Felony murder = rebuttable presumption of extreme recklessness during enumerated felonies.
Cases
- State v. Hope, 137 N.E.3d 549 (Ohio 2019) — aggravated murder; "prior calculation and design."
- State v. Davis, 905 S.W.2d 921 (1995) — momentary deliberation may suffice.
- State v. Ramirez, 945 P.2d 376 (Ariz. 1997) — premeditation = actual reflection.
- Massachusetts v. Hinds, 927 N.E.2d 1009 (Mass. 2010) — provocation must come from victim.