Words like “first degree murder,” “second degree murder, “premeditation,” and etc., shouldn’t even enter your thoughts when answering a homicide question on the UBE. Of course, a statute (or the Model Penal Code, or etc.) can appear in a question which modifies things, but if applying the default, common law, rules, those classifications do not exist.
Rather, there are four ways to commit murder and they don’t deal with degrees.
~You can intend to kill someone and the person dies as a result.
~You can intend to cause serious bodily harm towards someone and cause the person to die.
~You can act recklessly and cause the person to die. (Check your heart; it might be depraved!)
~You can engage in an enumerated felony and kill someone during that engagement (felony murder).
That’s it: nothing more, nothing less. Unless there’s a statute.
No comments:
Post a Comment