Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-10-12
nEanEEs OF HnMIcIpE.

The Judge here read the statutes in re-
spcct Ia the degrees of murder aud said
At the common law, which is our law eX-
cept as It Is changed 10y statute, murder is
defined to he the unlawful killing, with NAL
ice aforethought, of any human being. In
order to constitute the crime of murder It
must he committed with malice afore-
thought Malice aforethought is generally
defined in the books to be such a depraved
condition of the mind aS shows IA total dis
regard Of social duty, aud a heart bent
wholly ON evil. The malice which the law
requires to exist may be either express or
implied that is, either announced by some
previous threats, or evidence of some i'll
will that the party had towards the mur
dered person or il may be implied from
the circumstances under which the killing
took place. To constitute murder IN the
first degree, the act of killing must be in
tcntiOnal-the person must have intended
tn commit the deed. As the statute eN-
presses it, the killing must he wilful, dellb
crate and premeditated hut there is no
precise period of time which the premedi.
tatiou is required To exist or that the party
/ should have contemplated the homicide-it
| may be an hour or moment, In either
case it is sufficient as to time. 1t must ap
]
/ fore it was done When that appears, how
ever short the time then there is premedi
tatiom, which is required as above shown by
our statute. If YOU should find that the
respondent killed Miss Knapp wilfully, de
hberately and premedtatedly, you woul,
necessarily find he did it with malice afore
thought, whatever was his method of kill
ing. If a man without justification wilful
ly, deliberately and with premeditation re
solves to take human life, and takes it
this is murder in the first degree.
What is murder in the second degree
The statute, after defining murder of tn
first degree, says, IAN other kinds of mur
der shall he murder in the second degree.
This is the unlawful killing of human be
ing with malice aforethought, hut withou
deliberation, premeditation or preconcerte
design to kill, As our supreme court ha
lately held the Distinguishing feature of tn
two degrees rests i'm the absence of delibeT
alton, premeditation aud preconcerted de
sign from the second degree. That is, whe
these elements are absent and the other e
ements of murder exist, it is murder Of th
second degree only.
If the evidence is insufficient to show sal
isfactorily and by the rule of evidence whic
| shall presently explain, the fact of malic
aforethought, then you cannot predlcat
murder of any degree. The killing is ne
murder, but may be manslaughter. I'll
words malice prepense, or ''aforethought
in the description of the crime of murd'
do not imply delioeration or the lapse of al
considerable time between the malicious il
tent TO take the life and the execution
the intent. They are used rather to demo
purpose and design, in contradiction 10 a
cident or mischance. As an illustration
; if man, without justification, excuse
extenuaton. causes the death of another
the intentional use of a deadly weapon lik
~ to destroy life, it would be murder, /
] though the assailant only intended to do q