If you kill someone driving drunk or impaired is it murder?????

I agree. I guess I am just trying to wrap my mind around what do we do now? Do we just hope that it doesn't happen to us. What should we do to reach people?
I know the ignition interlocks are just now being put in cars, but i think they should go in on first time offenders not just 2nd time offenders.
I am not sure if any of you have noticed but it hasn't been repeat offenders killing people, it has been first time offenders and underage kids.
I just have to ask, if they new the that they would go to jail the first time, if they would be a deterrent?

I think that when you go to a bar, most people are sober, if you do not have a ride home before you start drinking you KNOW you are the only ride you have.  So in my opinion that is intent.
I also feel that if you get a DUI it stays a DUI. You shouldn't be able to get some high priced attorney to get you off on "failure to yeild".  I think the right to plead down a DUI should be taken off the table, not even an opion.
What about jail time? does anyone think that you should go to jail for a first time offense?
I have, in the past, talked with first time offenders about my story and hoping that my experience would make them think twice. Does anyone think this works?

....it would never fly in court because of intent ...... but if they  WERE able to charge the driver with murder , then they should possibly charge the establishment owner  and /or  waitress/waiter with "accessory to murder"........if the receipts substantiate more than the legal limit.......hard to prove......how many bars did the customer go to?.....how much did he drink BEFORE he got there?.......they should give breathalyzers to bar customers before they're served , and before they are allowed to leave......BUT THAT WOULD BE BAD FOR BUSINESS !!!...............I have long thought it was hypocritical to sell these places a liquor license , let them encourage people to keep drinking all night , only to turn the drunks  loose to reap carnage...........and the perpetrator's of the man's drunken carnage go scott free without responsibility for THEIR actions.................the phrase " can I get you another one ?" comes to mind............and keeping bars open to all hours of the morning is hypocritical.......do they think people are leaving the house at midnight to go drinking?...........of course not...........so what do the city fathers  see when they see a full  bar parking lot at 1 :30 or 3:00 in the morning?................a bunch of cars that people are leaving at the bar to walk home?..........

I posted this because I wanted to know what people honestly feel about the subject. I am a Victim Advocate for drunk driving victims and a victim myself, and was hoping to get the imput of people and what they think.  I am not this person you feel that I am, and I am a new blogger looking to get valuable imput to help those we help in the community. While I appreciate the examples and explinations, I am very aware what murder is. I am curious to know if Killing someone while impaired should be considered murder. If in fact laws should be changed? There have been some cases were these people have been charged with 2nd degree murder, but with other circumstances that raised it to 2nd degree murder. I want to know if you kill someone while driving impaired, if you should automatically be charges with murder, instead of Involuntary Manslaughter.
As of now, some organizations out there want to lower the BAC to .02 instead of the currant .08. I am just asking if people think that will make any difference at all. These same organizations are claiming that DWI fatality and injury crashes are down, when in fact crashes as a whole are down.
I feel that tougher penalties for first time offenders is the way to go.
I am just looking for new ways to look at things. There are many bills trying to be passed in the house and some need to be reformed, just wanting opinions.
Please stop thinking I am someone I am not, Get soemone to check the URL. I just want information. I have never come on here before, and if this the way you treat people you don't know, not sure I want to come back. Also if you don't have a comment about the topic I am writting on, please be respectful and do not respond.
 

I can't help but wonder what incident inspired this post?
 
Perhaps the one where the teenaged girl did a hit-and-run on a 70 year old lady who was gardening in her own front yard?
 

IV. Homicide
Killing of a human being by another human being.
We are concerned with criminal homicide and not innocent homicide.
Murder: CL definition: Murder is the killing by another human being with malice aforethought.
Manslaughter: CL definition: unlawful killing of a human being by another human being without malice aforethought.
Malice aforethought has 4 constituent states (“malice quartet”)
1.       Intent to kill (includes awareness that death will result from one’s actions)
2.       Intent to cause grievous bodily harm (includes knowledge that one’s conduct will cause such injury)
3.       Extreme Recklessness; wanton disregard for human life- consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustified risk to human life.
**Note: CA requires proof of the subjective awareness of the probability of causing death.
4.       Felony-murder rule- strict liability for homicide committed during the commission of a felony
 
Most states now divide murders into degrees[3] (Pennsylvania Model):
1st degree: perpetrated by means of poison, lying in wait, willful, premeditated, deliberate killing or which is committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of arson, rape, robbery or burglary.
-intent to kill murder= intentionally killing without justification, excuse or mitigating circumstances with deliberation and premeditation.
2nd degree: all other kinds of murders
-intentional killings that are not premeditated and deliberate
-intent to inflict grievous bodily injury killings
-reckless killings- extreme indifference to the value of human life: “Depraved heart”
-deaths that occur in the commission of a felony other than arson, rape, robbery, or burglary
 
**CA and PA allow “last straw” defense of combined grievances over time, Maryland and other jx do not.
 
Murder: Intent to kill
-one who intentionally kills another human being without:
            Justification (self defense)
            Excuse (e.g. insanity)
            Mitigation circumstances  (e.g. sudden heat of passion)
Is guilty of malice aforethought.
 
Intent to kill: Willful, deliberate, premeditated
Premeditated
State v. Schrader
-defendant and victim got into argument
-defendant stabbed victim 51 times
-ct. ruled that no time is too short for a wicked man to construct premeditation
-premeditation can be established in “twinkling of an eye”
So under Scharder, court fails to clearly distinguish willful killings and willful, deliberate, premeditated killings.
-other states such as Michigan in Morrin treat the terms willful, deliberate, and premeditated as independent elements of 1st degree murder.
-Morrin jurisdictions believe that one who kills cold bloodedly is more dangerous and more culpable than one who kills on impulse. 
Deliberate
-deliberate means to measure & evaluate the major facets of a choice or problem
-it is the process of determining upon a course of conduct to kill as a result of thought, including weighing the reasons for and against the action and considering the consequences of the action.
-such state of mind presupposed a cool purpose, free from influence of excitement or passion
-thus the idea that the most heinous killings are those that are cold blooded.
+It is impossible for a person to deliberate unless he premeditates
+It is impossible to premeditate without possessing a deliberate state of mind
+Premeditation involves quantity of time.
+deliberation speaks of quality of time.
 
Provocation as mitigating factor (murder à voluntary manslaughter)
-one who kills in sudden rage may be guilty of manslaughter if his anger is the result of adequate provocation
Traditional CL categories of provocation doctrine:
Ÿ         Extreme assault or battery upon the defendant
Ÿ         Mutual combat
Ÿ         Defendant’s illegal arrest
Ÿ         Injury or serious abuse of a close relative
Ÿ         Sudden discovery of spouse’s adultery
Girouard v. State
-words alone cannot provide the sufficient provocation to mitigate crime from murder to manslaughter
**But can lower degree from 1st to 2nd
-Ct. recited the rule of provocation
Ÿ         There must have been adequate provocation.
Ÿ         The killing must have been in the heat of passion
Ÿ         It must have been a sudden heat of passion- that is, the killing must have followed the provocation before there had been a reasonable opportunity for the passion to cool.
Ÿ         There must have been a causal connection between the provocation, and the fatal act.
 
Unintentional Killings
Wanton Murder
Malice aforethought is implied if D’s conduct manifests an extreme indifference to the value of human life.  For states that separate murders into degrees, this is 2nd degree murder. 
-at common law, this kind of conduct referred to as “an abandoned and malignant heart” or “depraved heart”
-Under MPC, such conduct is referred to as reckless.
Under wanton murder doctrine, the accused does not intend to kill, but his conduct manifests such a high degree of indifference to value of human life that the actor as good as intended to kill his victims. 
Some examples of Wanton Conduct
Shooting a gun at a crowd of people (not actually intending to kill anyone).
Driving car at high speed in rain and while intoxicated.
Omissions:
Parents indifferently fails to feed her infant for 2 week.
Neighbor has 2 big pit bulls and trains them to fight and no fence around the house and kids living in the next house. 
Another definition: When the risk of death is great and the justification for taking the risk is weak or non-existent, the actor is guilty of murder, she has acted with a “depraved heart.”
Common Law has 4 levels of risk in cases of unintentional killings:
1.       Due care (no liability)
2.       Ordinary negligence (no criminal liability)
3.       Gross negligence (involuntary manslaughter)
4.       Wanton conduct (murder; malice quarter-3)
 
Involuntary Manslaughter (Gross Negligence)
Common Law: common law courts have used “gross negligence” “culpable negligence”
MPC: Some ordinary negligence made criminal, unlike common law.
Criminal negligence, or involuntary manslaughter, involves a gross deviation from the standard of care that reasonable people would exercise in the same situation, It is more than civil negligence- it must be so gross as to be deserving punishment.
Misdemeanor Manslaughter (unlawful act manslaughter)
-strict liability doctrine
-IM covers unintentional homicides that occur during the commission of an offense that is misdemeanor, or a non dangerous felony, that is malum in se e.g. larceny.  If the amount is large, or unknown to the thief the larceny is a felony, but it is not a dangerous felony.  There is NO merger doctrine, as in felony murder, e.g. the misdemeanor most commonly used to operate this rule is battery.  Yet battery has as its dominant feature the very act of violence that brought about the death. 
-The doctrine is known as misdemeanor-manslaughter in that the defendant’s intentional commission of a misdemeanor or non dangerous felony (unlawful act) supplies the culpability required to impose homicide liability. 
Misdemeanor Manslaughter: Malice Quarter
1.       Intent to kill (no applicable)
2.       Intent to inflict non serious bodily injury (e.g. battery)
3.       Gross negligence (more than ordinary negligence but less than wanton)
4.       Misdemeanor- manslaughter rule (commission of misdemeanor or non dangerous felony.  **Strict liability and no merger limitation e.g. battery does not merge.
v      Felony Murder Doctrine
o        At CL, person guilty of murder if he kills someone, even accidentally, during the commission of any felony.
o        In states that use Pennsylvania, usually arson, robbery, rape and burglary felonies involved= 1st degree murder
o        All other felonies= 2nd degree murder
o        Rule very unpopular among states
o        Some limitations by states
§         Inherently Dangerous Felony Limitation
·         In the abstract= look at the definition of the crime to see if inherently dangerous
·         Facts= look at facts of each case to see if this particular felony inherently dangerous.
§         Merger Doctrine
·         Felony that is the predicate for the felony-murder rule must be independent of homicide.
·         E.g. assault with a deadly weapon merges with the homicide
§         Causation Limitation
·         There has to be causal relationship between death and the felony
·         E.g. King case: Felons’ plane crashed while transporting drugs and one died
·         Ct. said no causal link between drug transportation and crash.  If flying low to avoid detection, then there would have been that link.
§         Killing by non-felon
·         In most states if killing by anyone other than the felon, then felony murder rule doesn’t apply
§         Agency Theory
·         Felony murder only applies if murder committed in furtherance of the felony by a person acting as his agent.
v      MPC § 210
o        Three categories: Murder, Manslaughter, Negligent Homicide
o        Murder
§         No degrees used
§         Intent to kill
§         Extreme Recklessness
§         No Felony Murder Rule (But can use Extreme Recklessness as an alternative)
§         No intent to cause grievous bodily injury (falls under extreme recklessness)
o        Manslaughter
§         Recklessness
·         Not as extreme indifference as the reckless murder
o        Negligent Homicide
§         Criminally negligent killing (under CL, manslaughter)

.....Light My Fire , it is nice to see you..............why so scarce?..............I am remembering all the times you told dragonlady & I to find a job..............I recently found out that you don't work........isn't that ironic?..............I must tell you again that I love your new identity , Joyce............."getalife"............you are SO clever...............Laharl , Bard Song , Light My Fire , Cecil Harvey , and now we haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave...............(drum roll)................
...................................."getalife"...........................................start blogging again , we miss your Sunday School lessons...................