Quote:
Originally Posted by Five-hole
The definition of murder which is "causing death while committing another illegal act" has a very restricted set of crimes that apply. They're all crimes that involve exerting some measure of control over the victim, like kidnapping, hijacking, rape, and robbery.
I did some research last night and it seems the harshest sentence given out for drinking and driving causing death is "criminal negligence causing death", which has a maximum sentence of 25 years but no minimum (unless the death is caused by a firearm, in which case the minimum sentence is 5 years).
|
Sorry for the double post, but you do NOT need to be committing another offence to be charged with murder.
Here's a better explanation...
Quote:
Murder Charges
Murder, as defined by the criminal code, is when the offender either:
1) means to cause the death of the other person;
2) means to cause bodily harm that he knows is likely to cause death, and is reckless as to whether death is caused of not;
3) means to cause death or bodily harm that he know is likely to result in death to one person, but ends up killing someone else (i.e. a gun shot misses the intended target and kills a bystander);
4) is in the commission of an offense and does something he knows or ought to know may cause death (even if death is not intended).
Murder is thus not limited to crimes where the offender actually intends to kill the other person. Simply intending to cause significant bodily harm can meet the definition.
|