Opinion ID: 784134
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Evidence Was Sufficient to Sustain a Conviction for First Degree Murder

Text: 47 Lawrence contends that the evidence was not sufficient to prove premeditation, and he therefore should not have been convicted of murder in the first degree. The argument is patently frivolous and we need only address it briefly. 48 14 V.I.C. § 922 defines first degree murder as a deliberate killing with premeditation. A premeditated killing is defined as one which has been planned and reflected upon by the accused and is committed in a cool state of the blood, not in sudden passion engendered by just cause of provocation. Government of the Virgin Islands v. Roldan, 612 F.2d 775, 781 (3d Cir.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 920, 100 S.Ct. 1857, 64 L.Ed.2d 275 (1980) (internal citations omitted). However, premeditation does not require[] ... that the accused shall have brooded over his plan to kill or entertained it for any considerable period of time. Although the mental processes involved must take place prior to the killing, a brief moment of thought may be sufficient to form a fixed, deliberate design to kill. Id. Moreover, since it is impossible to photograph the mental processes of a killer, and since it is folly to expect that a killing will be explained by a killer's explanation of any specific intent accompanying the act, circumstantial evidence is usually the only possible proof of the mental processes involved. Government of the Virgin Islands v. Charles, 72 F.3d 401, 410 (3d Cir.1995). 49 Here, the assailant specifically told Hodge, It's you I come for, and then shot him three times. One of those bullets struck Hodge in the throat area, and one struck him in the abdomen. Moreover, one of the shots was fired as Hodge was stumbling backward in an apparent attempt to flee. All of the shots were fired at extremely close range from a .38. It can not seriously be argued that a reasonable jury could not have been convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the shooter intended to kill Hodge given that testimony. 50