First degree murder

[Denur]

I don't mind that the guy hangs for his crime, but I do not understand his conviction: first degree murder. His act of arson killed a number of fire fighters, but when he set those fires, he didn't know whether those fires would be fought at all, let alone by which persons. As far as I know, murder in the first degree means that you knew who was going to die and why. In his case, he "just" set a fire and those who died were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The convict

Please explain.

 

[Duke]

Any death that occurs, even accidentally, during a commission of a felony is considered first-degree murder. So even though the intent of the crime was NOT to kill people, people died because of the crime, and the crime was committed on purpose. So that automatically bumps the charges to Murder One. The arson was a felony charge (a serious crime).

To clarify:

For instance, say I go in to rob a bank with an unloaded gun. Someone gives me trouble and I push them around. They fall, hit their head on the stone floor, and die. Even though I did not intend to kill anyone (as witnessed by the empty gun), my actions in committing the real crime resulted in someone dying. So I am then charged with first-degree murder because I was already committing a serious crime when the death happened.

 

[Denur]

Wow, that seems a bit hars. If I were to run a red light (which is considered a crime in some countries) and caused an accident, killing one or more people, would I face the same panalty, i.e. death, in the USA?

Edit> I read your clarification Duke and I am, how do you call it? Dumb struck? No words to counter. I am not a religious person, but the words "thou shall not kill" come to mind now. Is it so easy in the USA to condemn a person to death?

 

[Duke]

No, because just running a redlight is not a felony. Felony charges are reserved for serious, important, and intentional crimes, like arson/bombing, major robbery, murder and attempted murder, etc. Smaller crimes like petty theft (shoplifting small items, etc) or other lesser crimes are called misdemeanors. You can't get the death penalty for a misdemeanor, and you can't even get the death penalty for most felonies - just for murder charges.

If you just ran a redlight and crashed and killed someone, you might get a manslaughter charge which means you accidentally killed someone by your actions, but not on purpose. You might go to jail or be put on probation, which means you have to report to the police on a regular basis and stay out of trouble, but you would never be executed for that.

However, if you robbed a bank and drove the getaway car through a redlight, crashed and killed someone, that would be upgraded to a first-degree-murder charge because it happened while you were committing a felony crime already. You might be executed for that.

 

[-Cheezman-]

Wow, that seems a bit hars. If I were to run a red light (which is considered a crime in some countries) and caused an accident, killing one or more people, would I face the same panalty, i.e. death, in the USA?

That's classed under vehicular manslaughter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_homicide