Opinion ID: 1913515
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: distinctions between crimes

Text: In order to be guilty of first degree murder, one must have killed purposely and with deliberate and premeditated malice. § 28-303(1). Malice is that condition of the mind which is manifested by the intentional doing of a wrongful act without just cause or excuse. State v. Thompson, 244 Neb. 375, 507 N.W.2d 253 (1993). Deliberate malice and premeditated malice are separate and distinct elements of the crime of murder in the first degree. State v. Cook, 244 Neb. 751, 509 N.W.2d 200 (1993); State v. Thompson, supra . Deliberate means not suddenly, not rashly; but deliberation requires that the defendant considered the probable consequences of his or her act before doing the act. State v. Cook, supra ; State v. Thompson, supra ; State v. Batiste, 231 Neb. 481, 437 N.W.2d 125 (1989). Premeditated means to have formed a design to commit an act before it is done. One kills with premeditated malice if, before the act causing the death occurs, one has formed the intent or determined to kill the victim without legal justification. State v. Cook, supra ; State v. Thompson, supra ; State v. Batiste, supra. No particular length of time for premeditation is required, provided that the intent to kill is formed before the act is committed and not simultaneously with the act that caused the death. State v. Drinkwalter, 242 Neb. 40, 493 N.W.2d 319 (1992); State v. Batiste, supra ; State v. Kern, 224 Neb. 177, 397 N.W.2d 23 (1986). The time required to establish premeditation may be of the shortest possible duration and may be so short that it is instantaneous, and the design or purpose to kill may be formed upon premeditation and deliberation at any moment before the homicide is committed. State v. Drinkwalter, supra ; State v. Batiste, supra ; State v. Nokes, 192 Neb. 844, 224 N.W.2d 776 (1975); Savary v. State, 62 Neb. 166, 87 N.W. 34 (1901). One who has killed without malice upon a sudden quarrel is guilty not of first degree murder, but of manslaughter. See § 28-305.