Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being. Penal Code section 189 states: "All murder which is perpetrated by means of a destructive

device or explosive, a weapon of mass destruction, knowing use of

ammunition designed primarily to penetrate metal or armor, poison,

lying in wait, torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate,

and premeditated killing, or which is committed in the perpetration

of, or attempt to perpetrate, arson, rape, carjacking, robbery,

burglary, mayhem, kidnapping, train wrecking, or any act punishable

under Section 206, 286, 288, 288a, or 289, or any murder which is

perpetrated by means of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle,

intentionally at another person outside of the vehicle with the

intent to inflict death, is murder of the first degree. All other

kinds of murders are of the second degree."