Reference no: EM133202488
There are several different levels of murder. Maria would be charged with Second Degree Murder as she did not intent to kill Raquel. In fact, Raquel was not her target. However, this might be able to be plead down to voluntary manslaughter. Voluntary manslaughter is where a murder charge is reduced for a number of reasons (England, 2014). In addition to second degree with possibility of reducing that charge to voluntary manslaughter I'd requested attempted murder be added to the charges? Attempted murder is defined as a person who deliberately, intentionally, or recklessly tried to kill someone (US Legal, n.d.).
Mens rea and actus rea are two elements that must be proven when convicting someone of a crime. Mens rea means the accused must have had a mental element while committing the crime. In the scenario below, Maria had threatened Carols on multiple occasions that she was going to kill him. That would meet the guilty mind aspect of mens rea. Actus reus in the act its self. No one forced Maria to pull out a gun and shoot when she seen Carlos on the street corner (Barefoot Law, n.d.).
Since the scenario does not give specific details I believe there are only two defense options for Maria:
Insanity would have to be proved that Maria has suffered from mental illness before or proven that she does not. Or Impairment is an option under the insanity clause. If she was under the influence. Heat of passion is where someone lashes out in the heat of the moment. Based off what we know, I believe either of those would be hard to prove in court. However, the heat of passion can be a reason to reduce the sentence from second degree murder to voluntary manslaughter.
- Now, research the relevant statutes in your state that correspond to the crimes and defenses that you discussed in your answers to Q1. In light of what you see in your state statutes, how might your answers, including about possible defenses, change (if at all)?
I choose Texas as my state to research as that is one of two we are looking to retire too. Texas Penal Code § 19.02. Murder supports my initial thought of second degree murder as stated in question one (Find Law, 2021). Texas Penal Code § 19.03. Capital Murder might be a charge against Maria. Capital Murder in Texas is where a person commits a murder while committing or attempting to commit another crime (Find Law, 2021). Texas Penal Code § 19.04. Manslaughter is where a person commits an offense and recklessly causes the death of a person (Fine Law, 2021).In the case of Dwelle v. State, 2022 Tex a person was killed by a hatchet because Dwelle was upset by something the victim said. Dwelle went into the kitchen to retrieve the hatchet, walked back into the bedroom where the victim was to kill him. The court rejected the defendant's defense of sudden passion as the defendant admitted to leaving the room to get the weapon used to kill Ford (Dwelle v. State, 2022). Had the courts agreed to the sudden passion defense, the charge may have been reduced to possibly voluntary manslaughter.After reading about the Dwelle v. State case, I am not sure reducing the charged would be adequate for Maria. She clearly had a weapon her. Was she out looking for Carlos? Would this be more like first degree murder or premeditated?
3) How did conducting research and going through each step of legal analysis help you to reach this conclusion? Analyze how you applied critical thinking and legal analytical skills to assist you in this regard. What new research and/or analytical tool or method did you try for the first time this week? What do you think you do well and what would you like to strengthen so that you continue to improve?
I enjoyed researching and defining the different levels of murder and how those could possibly be reduced to different manslaughter charges. Initially, I just thought about murder. I had to research the different levels of murder and determine what degree fit this scenario most based off the information provided. Once review different cases I was able to see how my initial charge of second degree murder might not be accurate.
I have used Nexis Uni before in a class prior. However, it was very little. This assignment allowed me the opportunity to play around in the database a little more and learn how to be a bit more specific. For example I searched specific cases for second degree murder in the state of Texas. I still need to improve on my key word search for sure. I also found Find Law to be useful. I had not been in there before. I found that tool easier to search statutes for the state I was looking for.