This is a true story. Martha M., a 72-year-old widow, was charged with murder. She became a widow when her husband, who was suffering and in great pain with terminal cancer, died. Her husband’s death is how she came to be charged with the crime. You see, she gave him…
Articles Posted in Murder
SENATE BILL 1437 ELIMINATES THE FELONY MURDER RULE IN CALIFORNIA
The Felony Murder Rule is a rule that attributes liability to an accomplice for a murder even if the accomplice was not the actual killer. In California, an accomplice (also referred to as an aider and abettor) to a crime can be charged, convicted, and sentenced for first- or second-…
DOCTORS CHARGED WITH MURDER FOR PRESCRIBING OPIATES
The opioid epidemic in this country couldn’t have happened without the doctors. Now, I am not saying all doctors are bad, I am just stating a fact. I am not imputing motivation, but I suspect money had something to do with the fact that some doctors found a good…
California Law Regarding Murder
SISTER ACCUSED OF MURDERING HER TWIN WHEN SHE DRIVES BOTH OF THEM OFF A CLIFF A woman was driving her vehicle in Maui with her twin sister sitting in the passenger seat. Witnesses said they observed the two sisters arguing in the car while the car was stopped and that…
The Insanity Defense in California
There is no functional difference between temporary and permanent insanity under California law. The sole issue in California is the status of the defendant’s sanity at the time of the crime. The method of determining a defendant’s sanity is the two pronged M’Naghten rule. 1) The first prong requires a defendant to understand…
Murder And The Defense of Self-Defense
In the wake of the not guilty verdict of George Zimmerman, for shooting and killing Travon Martin, a young teenage boy, people are struggling to understand how the jury came to the decision that it did. To understand the jury’s decision, it is important to understand the defense of self-defense,…
A Laguna Hills Man Arrested for Murder
A young 24-year-old man was recently arrested for the murder of his girlfriend. The Laguna Hills resident is being accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death. According to authorities, he was taken into custody in Arizona and is now being questioned, pending extradition back to Orange County California. As an…
California Murder Laws
California defines murder as “the unlawful killing of a human being or a fetus with malice aforethought.” As straightforward as that sounds, there are many degrees to the charge of murder. The circumstances of how the person was killed or how they died, will affect how the District Attorney will…
Buena Park California Sister Killer Trial Begins
What began as a plot to uncover stashes of money ended with the death of a man over nothing: no money at all. Instead, Debbie Perna is rotting in prison on a life term after engineering the gang murder of her brother, David Montemayor, a man brave enough to run…
Life in Prison for Throat Slasher in Orange County
Javier Colon, convicted of first-degree murder in the throat-slashing death of his girlfriend, was sentenced to 25 to life last week. Janelle Peralta was forced into their Irvine, California bathroom after an argument escalated into violence between the two. Colon had dropped their one-year old baby and the victim tried…