You have been emailed the transcript and case summary for Colorado v Sandoval.
please read and review.
then, acting as a juror make a decision on what verdict you would impose. please discuss your thought processes, and generally reflect on the experience.
your verdict options are:
700.1 Murder In The First Degree - Premeditation, Willfulness, Deliberation - Elements. The State must prove all of the following elements of Murder In The First Degree:
(Victim) died as a result of being stabbed.
The defendant acted with malice aforethought.
The defendant acted willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly and with a specific intent to kill (victim).
"Willful" means intentional or by fixed design or purpose and not accidental.
"To deliberate" is to weigh in one's mind, to consider, to contemplate, or to reflect.
"Premeditate" is to think or ponder upon a matter before acting.
Deliberation and premeditation need not exist for any particular length of time before the act.
"Malice" is a state of mind which leads one to intentionally do a wrongful act [to the injury of another] [in disregard of the rights of another] out of actual hatred, or with an evil or unlawful purpose. It may be established by evidence of actual hatred, or by proof of a deliberate or fixed intent to do injury. It may be found from the acts and conduct of the defendant, and the means used in doing the wrongful and injurious act. Malice requires only such deliberation that would make a person appreciate and understand the nature of the act and its consequences, as distinguished from an act done in the heat of passion.
"Malice aforethought" is a fixed purpose or design to do some physical harm to another which exists before the act is committed. It does not have to exist for any particular length of time.
If the State has proved all of the elements, the defendant is guilty of Murder In The First Degree. If the State has failed to prove any one of the elements, the defendant is not guilty of Murder In The First Degree.
700.13 Murder In The Second Degree - Elements. The State must prove all of the following elements of Murder In The Second Degree:
(Victim) died as a result of being stabbed.
3. The defendant acted with malice aforethought.
If the State has proved all of the elements, the defendant is guilty of Murder In The Second Degree.
700.15 Voluntary Manslaughter - Elements. The State must prove all of the following elements of Voluntary Manslaughter:
(Victim) died as a result of being stabbed
The stabbing was done solely by reason of sudden, violent and irresistible passion resulting from serious provocation.
If the State has proved all of the elements, the defendant is guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter.
a "serious provocation" is conduct that would cause a reasonable person to have a sudden, violent and irresistible passion.
Passion is not sudden, violent, and irresistible if there is an interval of time during which a reasonable person would, under the circumstances, have time to reflect and bring [his] [her] passion under control and suppress the impulse to kill.
Words alone, however abusive or insulting, cannot be serious provocation.
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