California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Bloom, 259 Cal.Rptr. 669, 48 Cal.3d 1194, 774 P.2d 698 (Cal. 1989):
This court has identified three categories of evidence which serve to sustain a finding of premeditated murder: (1) evidence of prior planning of the killing; (2) evidence of a prior relationship and/or conduct with the victim from which the jury could infer a motive to kill; and (3) evidence that the manner of the killing was so particular and exacting that the killing must have been according to a preconceived design. (People v. Anderson (1968) 70 Cal.2d 15, 26-27, 73 Cal.Rptr. 550, 447 P.2d 942.) To sustain a verdict of first degree murder it is not necessary that all three types of evidence be present; extremely strong evidence of prior planning alone will be sufficient, as will evidence of motive in conjunction with evidence of either prior planning or a particular and exacting method of killing. (Id. at p. 27, 73 Cal.Rptr. 550, 447 P.2d 942.)
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