Judges and Judiciary
Jan. 27, 2007
DUI-Murder Standards Are Not Driven by Reason
FORUM COLUMN - By Philip A. Rafferty - No one disagrees that drunken driving is wrong, but California's jury instructions make it too easy to tag such drivers with second-degree murder convictions.
By Philip A. Rafferty
How is it that driving-under-the influence-related homicide can be prosecuted successfully as second-degree, implied-malice murder? Such a conviction requires a jury to find that a defendant was thinking, "I am fully aware that if I drive (or continue driving) in my intoxicated state, then I am engaging in conduct that is inherently dangerous to human life;...
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