Also known as: malice-aforethought · malice prepense
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The mental state required for common-law murder that encompasses an intent to kill, an intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, extreme recklessness showing a depraved heart, or an intent to commit a felony.
Megan Moore aimed a loaded pistol at her neighbor's chest and fired a single shot during an argument over property lines. The neighbor died instantly from the wound. The factfinder inferred an intent to kill from the deliberate use of the firearm on a vital area, satisfying malice aforethought and supporting a murder conviction.
Marco Marquez retrieved his rifle, loaded it, and walked to the barn where he confronted his employee. He aimed directly at the employee's chest and pulled the trigger, causing death. The deliberate targeting of a vital area established express malice and malice aforethought for a murder charge.
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Matthew Martinez locked the laboratory door and wrapped an extension cord around his student's neck, applying pressure for several minutes until death by asphyxiation occurred. The sustained attack on a vital area permitted an inference of intent to kill, establishing malice aforethought for common-law murder.
Melanie Morris left a hallway argument, retrieved a scalpel from an operating room, and deliberately drove it into her colleague's chest. The intentional use of the instrument on a vital area allowed the factfinder to infer an intent to kill that satisfied malice aforethought.
Miranda Morales locked the conference room door and repeatedly struck her analyst in the head with a heavy stapler until unconsciousness resulted. The targeted blows to the head supported a finding of intent to inflict great bodily injury, constituting implied malice aforethought.
Maya Malik was charged with murder after an intentional killing. The prosecution bore the burden of proving malice aforethought beyond a reasonable doubt rather than requiring the defendant to disprove it through a heat-of-passion claim. The court refused to shift that element to the defense.
Malice aforethought exists when the defendant acts with an intent to kill, an intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, extreme recklessness demonstrating a depraved heart, or an intent to commit a felony under the felony-murder rule.
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No. The term does not demand premeditation or ill will in its literal sense. It is satisfied by any of the four listed mental states even when the killing occurs on sudden impulse.
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When a defendant intentionally uses a deadly weapon directed at a vital part of the victim's body, the factfinder may infer an intent to kill that satisfies malice aforethought.
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No. When malice aforethought is an element of murder, the prosecution must prove it beyond a reasonable doubt and may not require the defendant to disprove it by showing heat of passion.
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Voluntary manslaughter is an intentional killing that would otherwise be murder but occurs in the heat of passion upon adequate provocation before a reasonable cooling-off period. The presence of such provocation negates malice aforethought.
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…(1975), in which we invalidated a Maine statute that presumed that a defendant who acted with an intent to kill possessed the "malice aforethought" necessary to constitute the State's murder offense (and therefore, was subject to that crime's associated punishment of life imprisonment). The statute placed the burden on the defendant…