Legal Question in Criminal Law in Kentucky

The difference is in the "mens rea," meaning the intent behind the crime. In Kentucky, we have Murder, First Degree Manslaughter, Second Degree Manslaughter and Reckless Homicide.

If you intend to cause the death of someone, you are guilty of murder. For instance, you go home one day and decide to kill your spouse because you want a divorce and you don't want to pay her maintenance. You take a gun and shoot your spouse. That is murder.

Lesser homicide crimes might have other circumstances involved, and you don't necessarily intend to kill someone, but you just act recklessly or there are other factors involved. For instance, you get into a bar fight and you hit the guy so hard, he falls backwards, hitting his head on the concrete and dies. Or you might be under extreme emotional distress because your spouse beat you up and raped you. The next day you take a gun and shoot him. Or maybe you're playing around with a gun you think is empty, and you point it at your spouse and pull the trigger and it fires, killing your spouse. You could probably pull a lesser charge due to the circumstances, provided you can make the defense that there was no intent.

The police investigate the death and the prosecutor has the discretion of what charge, if any, to bring, within the definition of the crime.