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Speak Up! - View Question #309 |
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Question: What is first degree murder?
Answer: There are several types of first degree murder, all of which are defined by A.R.S. § 13-1105.
The first definition of first degree murder is causing the death of another person with either the intent or knowledge that the conduct will cause death and with premeditation. Premeditation is often described as 'malice aforethought,' which basically means that you probably considered the consequence of your conduct for at least a second before you committed the act.
The second definition of first degree murder is causing the death of another person while committing or attempting to commit another crime like sexual conduct with a minor, sexual assault, molestation of a child, various drug-related crimes, kidnapping, burglary, arson, robbery, escape from jail, child abuse, or unlawful flight from a pursuing law enforcement vehicle, or while fleeing from the scene where you committed any of these offenses.
The third definition of first degree murder is causing the death of a law enforcement officer in the line of duty while intending or knowing that the conduct will cause the officer's death.
Any kind of first degree murder is a class 1 felony and is punishable by death or life imprisonment. In Arizona, the trial jury decides whether the defendant has committed first degree murder. Then the judge holds a separate sentencing hearing to determine the proper sentence. A.R.S. § 13-703 outlines the various 'aggravating' and 'mitigating' factors that the judge must consider in reaching a decision about whether to impose the death penalty.
Recently, the Arizona case State v. Ring went before the United States Supreme Court. The Court decided that Arizona's system of jury-conviction and judge sentencing (which is similar to the system in several other states) is un constitutional. This means that now a jury must find a person guilty of First degree murder, and also approve of the death sentence being given as punishment for the murder.
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On 05/03/09
Tom from CA said:
You may want to check on how many of these repeat offenders are back on the streets. So when someone's dad is killed by one of these good men who is working an evening shift in a conveinence store, you'll ban the weapon he used.Brilliant! When someone's mom is killed in a parking garage by a repeat offender the parking garage will be sued for poor security. Too bad that you can't get the victom's opinion. What would they say if they knew that it was a repeat offender that was released early? Remember that the bad guys play by a diffent set of rules that is impossible 4 some of us 2 understand.
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On 02/02/09
Trey from NC said:
To those who think that the death penalty is acceptable, i offer this. Murder is murder, is murder, is murder. Killing a human being is not justifiable as a punishment. It does not deter, obviously, even if you take a killer off the planet, there are others, who don't take death seriously, as they kill, and are indifferent on being killed. What does it solve? Does it give a family justice to know that someone else now misses a loved one? Does it give anybody anything?
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On 11/12/08
Jake from WA said:
Ok, those that don't believe in the penalty need to rethink their priorities. These people get executed because they've killed someone. Life sentance should still be an option, but so should the penalty. We cannot risk ers getting out of jail, because they'll do it again, espicially is they're serial killers.
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On 10/12/08
Tiff from MD said:
Ok to start off the death penalty is not necessarily a way to just get back at a family its set up to rid the states of any criminal that committed a serious offense. what would happen if a serial killer escaped from prison the community would be at risk, right? so therefore we kill these people so the general publics saftey and lives are not at that risk. Yes the other reason if for justice to the individuals family, two wrongs dont make a right but who said it was ever wrong to punish someone! i believe that the death penalty still needs to be invoked within every state.
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On 02/06/08
Alexis from AL said:
If someone goes to prison and is on the death penalty, they should die the reason why they're in there, so they can feel the pain they caused to the victim(s). Just because you kill a man by lethal injection or the chair, doesn't mean they learned anything or felt anything. Why if your kid was raped and murdered and the person that did it was sentenced to death? Wouldn't you want that person to die that same way they killed your child? If that were to happen to any child of mine in the future, I would want the killer to die the same way the killer killed my child.
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