What is the test for determining whether a defendant acted with malice in a second degree murder case?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Lawson, B252907 (Cal. App. 2015):

aforethought (CALCRIM No. 520). Malice is either express or implied: a defendant acts with express malice when he "unlawfully intended to kill" and with implied malice when the killing resulted from an intentional act, the natural consequences of which are dangerous to human life, performed with knowledge of and conscious disregard for the danger to human life. (CALCRIM No. 520; see also People v. Dellinger (1989) 49 Cal.3d 1212, 1221-1222.) By finding defendant guilty of second degree murder, the jury necessarily found that he acted with malice. We therefore must conclude that any error in failing to instruct the jury on involuntary manslaughter was harmless.18

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