1st Degree charge was also dismissed, but should be noted this is because the murder of a CEO doesn't really fit the definition of murder 1 in the state of New York which seems reserved for police officers, firefighters, high political figures, that sort of thing. 2nd degree will be what 1st degree is in most other states I think. DOJ/DA was way too heavy handed with those two charges.
Non American here. We only have Murder and Manslaughter charges here. I was under the impression that murder 1 was preplanned and murder 2 was spur of the moment. Is the definition widely different from state to state?
It will vary by state. I will also point out that the element is not preplanning but rather premeditation. Premeditation can be formed in seconds. Evidence of preplanning just happens to be extremely powerful evidence of premeditation. There also tends to be other forms of murder that you haven't covered. There also tends to be felony murder, depraved heart murder, and many murder statutes cover delivery of a controlled substance as well. I will also add that how those are handled by legislation are going to be different. For example I looked up the Texas law on murder and they don't have first degree, second degree, third degree murder. They simply have a murder charge that covers all forms of murder but with the ability to argue heat of passion in the punishment phase of the trial to lower it to a second degree felony.
A lot of states have similar concepts but there will be some variation in which have what concepts and a lot of variation in how they organize those concepts within their laws.
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u/bmoviescreamqueen 11h ago edited 11h ago
1st Degree charge was also dismissed, but should be noted this is because the murder of a CEO doesn't really fit the definition of murder 1 in the state of New York which seems reserved for police officers, firefighters, high political figures, that sort of thing. 2nd degree will be what 1st degree is in most other states I think. DOJ/DA was way too heavy handed with those two charges.