8.5: CA Penal Code 187 - First-Degree Murder

Study Points

• Ascertain the three types of murder that are typically first degree.
• Define premeditated murder.
• Explain the significance of the criminal act element of murder in premeditated murder.
• Define murder by a specified means.
• Give examples of specified means for first-degree murder.
• Analyze first-degree murder grading.
• Ascertain the circumstances that merit capital punishment.

From the PENAL CODE

Homicide PC 187:

(a) Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought.

(b) This section shall not apply to any person who commits an act that results in the death of a fetus if any of the following apply:

(1) The act complied with the former Therapeutic Abortion Act (Article 2 (commencing with Section 123400) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 106 of the Health and Safety Code) or the Reproductive Privacy Act (Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 123460) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 106 of the Health and Safety Code).

(2) The act was committed by a holder of a physician’s and surgeon’s certificate, as defined in the Business and Professions Code, in a case where, to a medical certainty, the result of childbirth would be death of the person pregnant with the fetus or where the pregnant person’s death from childbirth, although not medically certain, would be substantially certain or more likely than not.

(3) It was an act or omission by the person pregnant with the fetus or was solicited, aided, abetted, or consented to by the person pregnant with the fetus.

(c) Subdivision (b) shall not be construed to prohibit the prosecution of any person under any other provision of law.

(Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 260, Sec. 14. (SB 345) Effective January 1, 2024.)

In this section, you analyze the factors that classify a murder as first-degree murder. Keep in mind that the criminal act, criminal intent, causation, and harm elements of murder have already been discussed.