Killer Question

Just the facts When a person kills another person, it's Homicide. This is in contrast to suicide, which is when a person kills himself. Homicide may be legal or illegal, so cause of death is always investigated by the Police Homicide unit.

Differences The difference between Murder and Manslaughter is that Murderer has the intent to kill.

Manslaughter Involuntary Voluntary manslaughter refers to instances where the killer has been provoked. Involuntary Involuntary manslaughter generally refers to negligence or accidental killing.

Voluntary Manslaughter Voluntary Manslaughter is when a murder is committed in the Heat of the moment. That is, there is no fore-thought and usually no attempt to hide after the fact. The intent to kill was present at the time of the killing, but in no way planned.

Involuntary Manslaughter Involuntary Manslaughter is when a murder is committed with no fore-thought and again, usually no attempt to hide after the fact, and the intent to murder was not present. Such as getting in to a bar fight and punching someone in the nose, there-by sending bone fragments into their brain and killing them, ETC. It is also most often used as a charge in cases of Negligence. (Careless Driving, ETC)

Levels of Murder First Degree First Degree Felony Second Degree

First Degree First Degree Murder is the deliberate, planned act of Murder. One must have thought about it, (even for a short time) planned the murder and executed it. FDM are often proven not only because of planning of the murder itself, but also other factors like having a place to hide or get rid of the body, having an escape planned, ETC.

First Degree Felony A First Degree Felony murder is a murder that takes place while committing a felony, even if the murder is accidental. This happens most often in things like Arson, Kidnapping, Rape, ETC.

Second Degree Second Degree Murder appears to be any other type of murder (Other then Capital Murder) Generally speaking, an example of this would be a murder that happened very quickly without fore-thought. (IE; a verbal fight that escalates to a fist fight that escalates to murder) It’s very similar to Manslaughter, and some States do not differentiate between SDM and Manslaughter.

Considered Okay Examples of justifiable or legal homicide would be killing in self-defense, executions by order of the court, or an accidental killing without any intention to hurt.

Insanity Defense M”Naughton Rule Defendant did not understand that what he/she was doing was wrong/illegal Defendant did not know what he/she was doing. Must prove that defendant has a mental disorder or disease that compells (forces) them to commit the crime. They can not resist the urge to commit the crime.