CRIMINAL LAW Homicide 1 Homicide Common Law Classification of Homicides • Justifiable • Excusable • Criminal Common Law Criminal Homicides • Murder o Malice Aforethought o Deadly Weapon Rule • Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Malice aforethought exists if there are no facts reducing the killing to voluntary manslaughter or excusing it (i.e. giving rise to a defense) and it was committed with one of the following states of mind: • Intent to kill o Intentional use of a deadly weapon authorizes a permissive inference of intent to kill • Intent to inflict great bodily injury • Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life (abandoned and malignant heart); or • Intent to commit a felony (felony murder) • Homicide is murder if there was malice aforethought. Statutory Modification of Common Law Classification • In some jurisdictions, murder is divided into degrees by statute. • A murder will be second-degree murder unless it comes under the following circumstances, which would make it first-degree murder. o Deliberate and Premeditated: if defendant made the decision to kill in a cool and dispassionate manner and actually reflected on the idea of killing, even if only for a very brief period, it is first degree murder. First-degree murder based on premeditation requires a specific intent, which may be negated by the defense of voluntary intoxication. o Felony Murder: if a murder is committed during perpetration of an enumerated felony, it is first-degree murder. The felonies most CRIMINAL LAW Homicide 2 commonly listed include arson, robbery, burglary, rape, mayhem, and kidnapping. In these jurisdictions, other felony murders are second-degree murder rather than involuntary manslaughter. o Others: some statutes make killing performed in certain ways (e.g. by torture) first-degree murder. Homicide What do you need? You need a dead body. Deliberation – Premeditation Formula P.237 -Premeditation and deliberation relate to mental processes and ordinarily are not readily susceptible to proof by direct evidence. Instead, must be proved by circumstantial evidence. Circumstances to be considered in determining whether a killing was with premeditation and deliberation (whether it was murder or manslaughter): • Want of provocation on the part of the deceased • The conduct and statements of the DE before and after the killing • Threats and declarations of the DE before and during the course of the occurrence giving rise to the death of the deceased • Ill-will or previous difficulty between the parties • The dealing of lethal blows after the deceased has been felled and rendered helpless • Evidence that the killing was done in a brutal manner – also, nature and number of victim’s wounds is a circumstance from which premeditation and deliberation can be inferred. Mens Rea for 1st Degree Murder • "Willful, deliberate, and premeditated." • This is not the common law mens rea (malice aforethought). Homicide • Voluntary intoxication and mistake of fact are not available defenses because murder is not a specific intent crime. If it is a first-degree murder, then it is a specific intent crime and you can use the two defenses to reduce first-degree murder down to malice murder. CRIMINAL LAW Homicide 3 Causation • General Requirement: When a crime is defined to require not merely conduct but also a specified result of that conduct, the defendant’s conduct must be both the cause-in-fact and the proximate cause of the specified result. • Cause-in-Fact: a defendant’s conduct is the cause-in-fact of the result if the result would not have occurred but for defendant’s conduct. • Proximate Causation: A defendant’s conduct is the proximate cause of the result if the result is a natural and probable consequence of the conduct, even if defendant did not anticipate the precise manner in which the result occurred. Superseding factors break the chain of proximate causation. • Rules of Causation: an act that hastens an inevitable result is still the legal cause of that result. Also, simultaneous acts of two or more persons may be independently sufficient causes of a singer result. • Limitations o Year and a Day Rule: for a defendant to be liable for homicide, death of the victim must occur within one year and one day from infliction of the injury or wound. o Intervening Acts: generally, an intervening act shields defendant from liability if the act is a coincidence or is outside the foreseeable sphere of risk created by defendant. Note that a third party’s negligent medical care and the victim’s refusal of medical treatment for religious reasons are both foreseeable risks, so defendant would be liable. CRIMINAL HOMICIDE THE COMMON LAW • Introduction: A criminal homicide occurs if the defendant causes the death of another person without justification or excuse. There were two grades of criminal homicide at common law: murder and manslaughter. The terms "justification" and "excuse" have no legal significance. They describe all defenses and a lack of minimum culpability. A baby must be born alive and capable of life independently of its mother in order to be a "person." Some States depart from this rule. The killing of a dying person can be a criminal homicide. When "death" occurs is uncertain. At common law, the death had CRIMINAL LAW Homicide 4 to occur within a year and a day in order to be "caused" by the defendant. Most States no longer follow this rule. Murder • Murder is causing the death of another "with malice aforethought." The quoted term has nothing to do with "malice" or "aforethought," but includes any one of four conditions: (a) intent to kill or knowledge that death will result; (b) intent seriously to injure or knowledge that serious injury will result; (c) extreme recklessness; and (d) felony murder. • At one time, all criminal homicides were murder and were punished by death. Much of the subsequent history concerns more sophisticated grading of the offense. Manslaughter became all criminal homicides committed without malice aforethought. The degree structure further confined capital murder. The death penalty became discretionary for the highest category of murder in all States. • Diminished Responsibility: A "junior version" of the insanity defense has been used in England and in some American States to reduce the grade of a criminal homicide. THE MODEL PENAL CODE • Introduction: Criminal homicide is "purposely, knowingly, recklessly or negligently [causing the death of another human being." The prosecutor must negate any justification or excuse defenses raised by the defendant. A "human being" is "a person who has been born and is alive." When "death" occurs is not addressed. The year and a day rule is abolished. • Murder: The term "malice aforethought" has been dropped. Murder is a criminal homicide committed purposely, knowingly, or "recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life." Both "recklessness" as defined in § 2.02(2)(c) and this standard must be satisfied. The felony murder rule is abolished, but there is a presumption of extreme recklessness in the case of listed felonies. The degree structure is abolished. • Capital Punishment: The Model Penal Code takes no position on whether capital punishment should be authorized for murder, but does prescribe how it should be imposed if authorized. There are two important aspects of the proceeding: (a) a separate post-conviction hearing must be held, usually CRIMINAL LAW Homicide 5 before the same jury; and (b) there are criteria for decision—the judge may preclude capital punishment under stated criteria, and after the separate hearing capital punishment may be imposed only if at least one of a specified list of aggravating factors is found to exist and if the aggravating factors outweigh any mitigating circumstances. • Evidence of mental disease or defect short of insanity can be used for at least three purposes: (a) to preclude the separate hearing; (b) to show extreme mental or emotional disturbance as a basis for mitigation; or (c) to show cognitive or volitional impairment as a basis for mitigation.