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Casebook Read Credits
Criminal Law
Resource 4 . 3 . 2 . 4
11 minutes

Excerpt of People v. Jefferson

Sam Kamin,
Dana Lindenberg

The Colorado Penal Code has an unusual quirk: A defendant may be convicted of first degree murder -- punishable by a life term without parole -- based on either intent to kill or universal malice, though if he kills knowingly, he may be convicted only of second-degree murder which is punishable by a term of years rather than a life term. 

In this case the defendant argues that this distinction is irrational and that an accidental killing such as the one with which he was charged should result in no more than a second-degree murder conviction.

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