Attempted Murder Law in California - Penal Code 664/187 PC
Under California Penal Code 664/187(a) PC, attempted murder is when the perpetrator intends to kill the victim and takes a direct step towards killing them, but the victim does not die. Attempted first-degree murder is punished by life in state prison. The sentence for attempted second-degree murder is punished by 5, 7, or 9 years in state prison.
First-degree murder under Penal Code 187 PC is deliberate and willful. Second-degree is all other types of murder.
Simply put, attempting murder is trying but failing to kill another human being. In California, the primary factors to convict are that the defendant took at least one direct but ineffective step toward killing another person and intended to kill that person, called “malice aforethought.”
A direct step requires more than simple planning; it involves putting the plan into motion. For instance, purchasing a weapon, stalking the victim, or making a clear attempt to harm the victim. It means the murder would have occurred had an outside factor not interfered.
Prosecutors must prove intent to kill. This means the defendant must have had a specific desire to end the life of the victim. Intent to main or injure is not enough if there is a lack of intent to kill. In many cases, there are no injuries at all. So prosecutors rely on overall circumstances to show intent.
When it comes to attempted murder cases under PC 664/187 PC that are being filed across LA County, you must have an excellent criminal defense attorney who has the experience to deal with these cases.
With over twenty-five years of defending clients charged with attempted murder cases in the LA courts, I bring a wealth of expertise to your defense.
My deep understanding of the law and experience in handling various charges, including those that could be filed instead of attempted murder, will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of your legal situation and instill confidence in your defense.
One of the most critical aspects that prosecutors must establish in an attempted murder case is the defendant's specific intent to kill the alleged victim. This element is pivotal, as, without it, an attempted murder charge cannot be sustained.
What is Intent to Kill?
So, when you're evaluating whether or not a person had the specific intent to kill another person, you have to:
- Look at their actions,
- Look at the circumstances of what happened, and
- See if there are any defenses associated with the case and
- See if their actions show that they intended to kill the individual.
For example, suppose one person attacks another person and seriously injures that person, but during the attack, decides to break the attack off because the other person obviously cannot fight back, for example.
In that case, that's probably not an attempted murder case because if they intended to kill them, then they would have continued their attack until they felt that they were dead.
In other situations, just the act of whatever the defendant does makes it clear that they intended to kill the other person.
For example, suppose somebody takes a gun and fires it directly at a person, even if they miss them. In that case, there's a good argument by the prosecutors that that particular person intended to kill the other person, and then they would have a strong argument for an attempted murder case.
What Are Some Defenses?
In California, when it comes to a violent crime case of attempted murder, one of the defenses that can be used is what we call “intoxication or diminished capacity.”
This means if you were so drunk or you were so high on some intoxicant that you really can't form the specific intent to kill – in other words, you really can't think and rationalize about killing another person, then that certainly could be a defense to an attempted murder case. This defense strategy, among others, offers a hopeful path to a successful defense in your case.
Intoxication and people who are voluntarily getting drunk are usually never a defense in California.
In other words, we're not going to let people get away with committing these severe crimes just because they decided to get drunk. But attempted murder is one of those crimes that you can use as a defense of intoxication and say listen; I was so drunk I don't even remember – I blacked out – I don't know exactly what happened.
If you can prove that – you have to have witnesses and circumstances, then you would undoubtedly argue that you could not form the intent to kill and, therefore, you cannot be convicted of attempted murder.
Another defense in an attempted murder case is self-defense. In other words, if you become involved in some physical fight with another person, and just because you get the better of the other person, that doesn't necessarily mean that you should be charged and convicted of attempted murder.
Also, I've seen people firing weapons at other people, and just because one person was a better shot and hit the other person, now, all of a sudden, that particular person is charged with attempted murder. That is not the test. That's not the way that things should work.
We don't want people firing guns at each other in society. Still, by the same token, if somebody is firing a gun at you and you fire back, you indeed argue that you were trying to defend yourself.
So, when it comes to defenses in attempted murder cases across LA County, it's going to be centered around the facts of the case, what happened, and who did what. It's not just hand-to-hand combat or guns. Knives can also be involved. Cars can be involved.
There's a whole host of different circumstances that can present themselves, and what it boils down to is, would a jury believe that you intended to kill the other person unlawfully?
That unlawful manner part has to do with waiting a minute. What about the defendant's version of what happened? What about if the other party threatened the person? What about if the other party used force against you, and you had to defend yourself?
When you come in, we sit down and go over everything. We can talk about the defenses and get down to the nitty-gritty of whether or not this is an attempted murder case. I take a thorough approach to your defense, ensuring that no detail is overlooked and that you are well-represented in your legal proceedings. My goal is to ensure that you feel understood and supported throughout this challenging process.
What Are Some Lesser Charges?
A lot of times, what I see is that the prosecutors are filing an attempted murder case – the person is looking at 15 to live in prison. The prosecutors, I think, do that a lot, so they can have a lot of power negotiation-wise to be able to say to the defendant, listen, you take the deal that we offer, or we're going to go after you for attempted murder.
We don't care. If you lose in a jury trial, you're finished. You're gone for 15 to life. I mean, I see that mentality all the time with the prosecutors, even though they don't say it that way, you know what they mean when they say, listen, if you don't take our deal, we're going to charge your client with attempted murder, or your client could get convicted of attempted murder.
All kinds of lesser charges can be substituted for the attempted murder a jury can find after a jury trial. For example, assault with a deadly weapon is undoubtedly something that I've seen charged. We can continue with the different lesser charges; we need to know the facts of the case.
In other words, you can't just make up a lesser charge – it has to fit the facts of the case. So, sometimes, in these attempted murder cases, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and it's up to your criminal defense attorney to get to it and make sure that you get the correct result.
What can you do to help? What will I do to get you the best result? What can we bring to the table with the prosecutors and judges to make a difference?
For example, a mitigation package, character letters, some investigation, and showing them some of the things they have yet to consider because, often, the police do a rush-to-judgment case.
They decide that the person is guilty and grab all the evidence they can that shows they're guilty without holding any evidence that says, "Wait a minute, maybe something else is happening here."
What Makes The Best Attempted Murder Defense Lawyer?
I've been handling attempted murder cases now for 30 years, and I think what makes the best attorney to defend these cases is
- Someone who has the experience and
- Someone who knows how to both win the cases and negotiate the cases.
Your attorney must have experience dealing with attempted murder cases because most of the time, if you're charged with attempted murder, and they're saying that it's premeditated and deliberated, you're in a position where you're facing 15 to life.
Nobody wants to go to prison for 15 years because the sentence is so complex that you may never come out of custody again. That's why it's crucial to get the best possible criminal defense attorney who knows how to handle attempted murder cases.
One of the first attack points in these cases is to show that you or the loved one you're trying to get the attorney for did not intend to kill another person. So, if they attacked the person, shot at the person, stabbed the person, but they broke off the attack, then there's undoubtedly enough argument that they were not attempting to kill anyone.
Instead, there could be an assault with a deadly weapon charge that could be added, or maybe, if the person was defending themselves, they could argue that there's self-defense, and therefore, they can't be charged with attempted murder.
Of course, another defense in these cases is that you're not the perpetrator. You didn't do it, and they can't prove that you did it.
So, we have to look at the facts and circumstances particular to your situation before we decide whether to fight the case, try to negotiate the case, put together a mitigation package for the prosecutors, or determine the best strategy. Sometimes, we need to investigate.
Sometimes, we need to do the preliminary hearing and fight and attack the prosecutor's case to damage it so horrifically that they either dismiss it or offer you something less than attempted murder.
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