Lord of the Flies Trial Legal Terms

Malice Noun “The Intention or desire to do evil; ill will” “desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another, either because of a hostile impulse or out of deep-seated meanness: the malice and spite of a lifelong enemy.” Law. evil intent on the part of a person who commits a wrongful act injurious to others.

Murder vs. Manslaughter

Murder Definition Intent to kill Murder: The unlawful killing of another human being with “malice aforethought.” “Malice” requires one of the following:   Intent to kill Intent to inflict grievous bodily harm short of death Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life Intent to commit a dangerous felony (such as arson, armed robbery or rape). Notes on iii: The death must result from the defendant's conduct involving a reckless indifference to human life and a conscious disregard of an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily injury. Example: If while driving 45 m.p.h. in a 30 m.p.h. zone, Larry hits and kills a person, he could be charged with manslaughter, not murder. But if while driving his car fifty miles an hour through a crowded public park, Larry hits and kills someone, he can be charged with murder, even if he was trying not to hit anyone. The reason is that he was recklessly indifferent to the obviously high risk of his actions, resulting in someone’s death.

Accomplice to Murder Accomplice to Murder: At law, an accomplice is a person who actively participates in the commission of a crime, even though they take no part in the actual criminal offense. For example, in a bank robbery, the person who points the gun at the teller and asks for the money is guilty of armed robbery. However, anyone else directly involved in the commission of the crime, such as the lookout or the getaway car driver, is an accomplice, even though in the absence of an underlying offense keeping a lookout or driving a car would not be an offense. At law, an accomplice has the same degree of guilt as the person he or she is assisting, is subject to prosecution for the same crime, and faces the same criminal penalties. As such, the two accomplices to the bank robbery above are also guilty of armed robbery even though there was only one who stole money.

Involuntary Manslaughter Involuntary Manslaughter: This arises where the accused did not intend to cause death or serious injury but caused the death of another through irresponsibility or criminal negligence. An example of this would be blindly tossing a brick off a bridge that lands on a person's head, killing him. Since the intent is not to kill the victim, but simply to drop the brick, the requirements for murder do not exist because the act is not aimed at injuring or killing a person and the recklessness of dropping a brick off a bridge is not to an “unjustifiably high risk to human life.”   The line between murder and involuntary manslaughter is thin. Both can refer to causing a death without forethought. However, the key difference is that murder is committed during or as a result of an act that is intentionally malicious or unjustifiably reckless and dangerous to human life. Involuntary manslaughter indicates that death was caused through an accidental but irresponsible act.

Self-defense Self-defense: A person may use non-deadly force to prevent imminent injury. However, the following exceptions may apply: A person may not use deadly force unless there is reasonable fear of serious injury or death. There is a duty to retreat. Deadly force may only be used if the person is unable to safely retreat. However, a person is not obligated to retreat if in one's own home in what has been called the castle exception (from the expression "A man's home is his castle").

Objection Objection: An objection may be raised by one lawyer team when the other lawyer team is not following the appropriate rules. For our cases, the only time an objection may be raised is if the lawyer who is speaking uses inaccurate or misleading evidence. The lawyer objecting can simply say, “We object,” or “Objection.” The judge decides whether to nullify the evidence (the objection is “sustained”) or to allow its usage (the objection is “overruled”).