abigaillovesmj
Guests
I have been reading the California penal code for a letter I am writing to the district attorney's office in a request to increase the charges against Dr. Murray. I wanted to quote what I remembered as one of two possible prerequisites to charge a person with second degree murder something along the lines of:
a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life.
a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life.
That is the definition I remembered and I couldn't find it anywhere in the California penal code. It turns out this definition is not there. In California, second degree murder is only defined by its relation to the definition of murder which in California is:
Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought.
First degree murder is defined as:
All murder which is perpetrated by means of a destructive device or explosive, a weapon of mass destruction, knowing use of ammunition designed primarily to penetrate metal or armor, poison, lying in wait, torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or which is committed in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate, arson, rape, carjacking, robbery, burglary, mayhem, kidnapping, train wrecking, or any act punishable under Section 206, 286, 288, 288a, or 289, or any murder which is perpetrated by means of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle, intentionally at another person outside of the vehicle with the intent to inflict death, is murder of the first degree.
And second degree murder is only defined as: All other kinds of murders are of the second degree.
So if murder of the second degree is all other kinds of murders which are not listed in first degree and murder in California requires malice aforethought, than from what I understand Murray cannot be charged with murder in the second degree since he did not intend to kill Michael – at least not from what was presented in court.
We have lots of evidence to prove the first definition I posted here of murder in the second degree but it seems it is not the definition used in California.
Here is the link to the California penal code:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=187-199
Here is the link to the California penal code:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=187-199
What do you guys think? I'm really sad right now and am really hoping that I'm wrong.