California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Burciaga, F067420 (Cal. App. 2015):
human life, and the person knowingly acts with conscious disregard for the danger to life that the act poses. [Citation.]" (People v. Gonzalez (2012) 54 Cal.4th 643, 653.)
"The law recognizes two degrees of murder. The degrees are distinguished by the mental state with which the killing is done. A person who kills unlawfully with implied malice is guilty of second degree murder. [Citation.] A person who kills unlawfully and intentionally is guilty of first degree murder if the intent to kill is formed after premeditation and deliberation. [Citations.] If the person kills unlawfully and intentionally but the intent to kill is not formed after premeditation and deliberation, the murder is of the second degree. [Citation.]" (People v. Gonzalez, supra, 54 Cal.4th at p. 653.)
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