Procedurally, when one is charged with murder, there are some crucial things that one needs to know how it may impact one’s life. When it comes to the culpable homicide or manslaughter, at US Legal Voice, we are capable of providing you all information regards in first-, second- and third-degree murder cases.

First-Degree Murder: A Fight for Your Life

When one is charged with first-degree murder, then he/she is as good as dead since the possible penalty is death. You will get either the death penalty or be sentenced to life imprisonment without an opportunity of parole. The stakes are high. Results are, to a very large extent, determined by the lawyer that one hires. Before making the last ‘turn’, let me explain that the main focus of the charge is the intent. First-degree murder requires the prohibited emphases on malice and a plan to kill the victim in most states. For instance, if you went to the house of a person and followed him or her with the intention of killing, you were hiding behind a tree waited for the person came back home before shooting him or her dead, then this is first degree murder. In another, if the crime took place during a fight, or any other circumstance which an attorney may argue as having occurred, ‘in the heat of the moment,’ then it is a different, lesser type of murder.

Defenses Against First-Degree Murder Charges

In order to prove his/her case, the attorney needs evidence for the crime committed, eyewitnesses, alibi or evidence that you committed the act in defense or for the defense of others and not with intent or premeditation. Another way an attorney can defend the accused is to state that another person has been arrested by the state (mistaken identity). An attorney can also use the insanity defense to argue that a particular accused had a mental condition that made him or her incapable of knowing that the action taken by the offender was unlawful. No matter the strategy that a lawyer may adopt, the goal is to negotiate the fines down, or better still have the fines withdrawn.

Second-Degree Murder: A Crime Without Intent

Actually, when you are charged with second-degree murder, there is no requirement for the prosecutor to prove that you had aimed to kill from the very beginning. This lack of intent is what sets the first-degree murder charges from the second-degree murder charges. It also has to be noted that a second-degree murder crime does not exclude a person from facing certain penalties, for instance: If you are convicted, you have to prepare yourself to stay in prison for rest of your life. So, you require an experienced and dedicated second-degree murder defense lawyer to fight against such a case presented by the prosecution.

No One Could Understand That You Did Not Pull the Trigger

If a person dies while one is in the act of a felony in which death of the person was not expected, you are also guilty of second-degree murder. This is especially the case even if you are not the one who caused the death of the other person who you refer to as the victim. For example, if you; rob a store with your two friends, but one of the friends shoot and kills someone using a gun, then you are also charged with murder in the second degree, despite not have shot in the incident. If you are found guilty by the jury, you will serve a life sentence at the pen erected and will die in prison.

Murder In the Third Degree

If you’re facing trial or you have been arrested for first-degree murder or second-degree murder, third-degree murder then you should talk to a professional lawyer today.

Murder in the third degree is a very grave offense of criminal law stated in 18 pa.c.s 2502 as follows:

• 2502. Murder
• (c) Murder of the third degree. –Apart from these instances, all forms of murder shall be murder of the third degree. Murder of the third degree falls under felony of first degree.
• Murder of the Third Degree, up to five years and or as a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 40 years with a fine of $50,000.

First-degree murder, second-degree murder and third-degree murder are all different classifications of murder, yet they are not all the same thing. Murder, or criminal homicide, as divided into the first and second degrees is set out in Chapter 2506 of the Pennsylvania statute as the unlawful killing of another person under one of these conditions:

• Goals involve premeditated killing of the other person (first-degree murder).
• You know that what you are doing might lead to a death of another person but it is not premeditated (second degree murder).
• Your conduct demonstrates that you don’t mind if someone succumbs to death through your action (voluntary manslaughter).
• You normally do manslaughter by accident; that is, you end up causing the death of another person when you are not intention. Murder in its first degree is one of the most severe crimes and its consequence is either death or life imprisonment without possibility to be released. Its identifying characteristic is intent. Thus, it is the purposive, intentional and intentional homicide.

Second-degree murder means that one commits murder as a consequence of perpetrating a felonious crime like robbery or burglary. Agu murder convict to receive life imprisonment without the possibility to a parole for second-degree murder charges. It is used to categorize all other murders which does not fit into the first and second-degree murder charges. These crimes are carried out with some degree of negligence or lack of attention.