Penal Code §187 - Murder defined
(a) Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a
fetus, with malice aforethought.
Applicable statutes:
Penal Code §188
Such malice may be express or implied. It is express when there
is manifested a deliberate intention unlawfully to take away the
life of a fellow creature. It is implied, when no considerable
provocation appears, or when the circumstances attending the killing
show an abandoned and malignant heart. When it is shown that the
killing resulted from the intentional doing of an act with express
or implied malice as defined above, no other mental state need
be shown to establish the mental state of malice aforethought.
Neither an awareness of the obligation to act within the general
body of laws regulating society nor acting despite such awareness
is included within the definition of malice.
Penal Code §189
All murder which is perpetrated by means of a destructive device
or explosive, 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. As used in this section, "destructive
device" means any destructive device as defined in Section
12301, and "explosive" means any explosive as defined
in Section 12000 of the Health and Safety Code. To prove the killing
was "deliberate and premeditated," it shall not be necessary
to prove the defendant maturely and meaningfully reflected upon
the gravity of his or her act.
Penal Code §189.5
(a) Upon a trial for murder, the commission of the homicide
by the defendant being proved, the burden of proving circumstances
of mitigation, or that justify or excuse it, devolves upon the
defendant, unless the proof on the part of the prosecution tends
to show that the crime committed only amounts to manslaughter,
or that the defendant was justifiable or excusable.
Penal Code §192 - Manslaughter
Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without
malice.
(b) Involuntary &3151 in the commission of an unlawful act,
not amounting to felony; or in the commission of a lawful act
which might produce death, in an unlawful manner, or without due
caution and circumspection. This subdivision shall not apply to
acts committed in the driving of a vehicle.
Applicable statutes:
Penal Code §193
(b) Involuntary manslaughter is punishable by imprisonment in
the state prison for two, three, or four years.
Penal Code §195
Homicide is excusable in the following cases:
1. When committed by accident and misfortune, or in doing any
other lawful act by lawful means, with usual and ordinary caution,
and without any unlawful intent.
2. When committed by accident and misfortune, in the heat of passion,
upon any sudden and sufficient provocation, or upon a sudden combat,
when no undue advantage is taken, nor any dangerous weapon used,
and when the killing is not done in a cruel or unusual manner.
Penal Code §399
a. If any person owning or having custody or control of a mischievous
animal, knowing its propensities, willfully suffers it to go at
large, or keeps it without ordinary care, and the animal, while
so at large, or while not kept with ordinary care, kills any human
being who has taken all the precautions that the circumstances
permitted, or which a reasonable person would ordinarily take
in the same situation, is guilty of a felony.
b. If any person owning or having custody or control of a mischievous
animal, knowing its propensities, willfully suffers it to go at
large, or keeps it without ordinary care, and the animal, while
so at large, or while not kept with ordinary care, causes serious
bodily injury to any human being who has taken all the precautions
that the circumstances permitted, or which a reasonable person
would ordinarily take in the same situation, is guilty of a misdemeanor
or a felony.
Penal Code §399.5
a. Any person owning or having custody or control of a dog trained to fight, attack, or kill is guilty of a felony or a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, or in a county jail not to exceed one year, or by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment, if, as a result of that person's failure to exercise ordinary care, the dog bites a human being, on two separate occasions or on one occasion causing substantial physical injury. No person shall be criminally liable under this section, however, unless he or she knew or reasonably should have known of the vicious or dangerous nature of the dog, or if the victim failed to take all the precautions that a reasonable person would ordinarily take in the same situation.