Question: What is the difference (penalty-wise) between injuring or killing someone with a gun?
Answer: Here in Arizona, injuring someone with a gun is considered Aggravated Assault (ARS 13-204.A.2), which is punishable by 5 years in prison. However, this amount can be adjusted up or down based on a variety of circumstances. For example, if the victim is under the age of 15, the Judge could impose up to an additional 7 years of prison time.
If the victim is killed, the situation becomes more complicated. Arizona has several different crimes that we call 'murder' or 'homicide'. Killing a person with a gun could fall into any one of those crimes depending on the circumstances. These crimes are: 'Negligent Homicide', 'Manslaughter', 'Second Degree Murder' or 'First Degree Murder'. The difference between these crimes is whether the person with the gun killed the person recklessly (sort of by accident) or if they intended to kill them.
Negligent homicide (ARS 13-1102) is punishable by 2 1/2 years in prison. Manslaughter (ARS 13-1103) is punishable by 5 years in prison. Second degree murder (ARS 13-1104) is punishable by a minimum of 16 years in prison. And, first degree murder (ARS 13-1105) is punished by either life in prison or death.
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