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🎧 EPISODE SUMMARY 🎧Homicide is the killing of a human, which may be lawful or criminal.
Assess causation, mental state, category, and potential defenses.
Common-law murder is an unlawful killing with malice aforethought.
Malice requires one of four mental states:
Intent to kill (proven by circumstantial evidence).
Intent to inflict serious bodily injury.
Extreme reckless indifference (depraved heart).
Felony murder.
Premeditation requires prior reflection, distinguishing statutory first-degree murder from second-degree.
Depraved-heart murder involves high-risk extreme recklessness exceeding criminal negligence.
Felony murder applies to deaths during inherently dangerous felonies: burglary, arson, rape, robbery, kidnapping (BARRK).
Under the merger doctrine, predicate felonies must be independent of the killing.
Liability spans attempt, commission, and flight until reaching safety.
The agency approach requires a felon to inflict the fatal wound, while the proximate-cause approach covers any foreseeable death.
All homicides require actual cause (but-for) and proximate cause (foreseeable result without superseding acts).
Remember: murder is not synonymous with intentional killing.
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