There are a lot of violent crimes in Nevada but nothing could ever top a murder homicide. Taking a person’s life away is the most serious crime a person could ever commit, especially if it is done with malice. And rightly so, a Nevada murder is punishable by grave penalties such as a lifetime behind bars—and worse, a death penalty.
The Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) provides a clearer definition of what constitutes murder in Las Vegas, as well as its other factors that you need to know if you are presently facing the judgment of the offense.
Nevada murder homicide according to the NRS
According to NRS 200.010, murder is a type of homicide where the act of killing another human was carried out with malice. Simply put, the murderer has the clear intention of ending the life of someone through shooting, stabbing, beating, poisoning, and other means of killing.
There is malice when there is no considerable provocation caused by the person killed or when it is evident that the suspect has killed with an “abandoned and malignant heart”. The latter means the killer could have not killed but still went through it.
Degrees of murder homicide
There are two degrees of Nevada murder homicide. The first-degree murder is the premeditated act of killing. The murderer knows the person will die of what he is about to do and has the full intent to fulfill it. To illustrate this, the first-degree murder in Las Vegas has a person buying insecticide and pouring it directly to the drink of the victim.
And while malice is a major indicator that a Nevada murder homicide is, in fact, a murder homicide, there exists a second-degree murder which is the killing of another person without premeditation or brought about by carelessness. An example is a man playing with a loaded gun and accidentally shooting his friend.
Apart from the two degrees of murder homicide, there also is attempted murder in which a person has failed to kill a person but all factors point to him having evident malice. Felony murder is when the murder homicide was perpetrated with or through other felony crimes like kidnapping or rape.
Penalties of murder homicide
For Nevada murder homicide cases, the penalties are either life imprisonment or a death sentence. And these penalties can even be worse when there are aggravating factors such as the defendant being under sentence of imprisonment or the murder was done so the accused could escape from other committed crimes. Worse, in a way, that the already hefty charges are added with longer sentences or the possibility of parole is removed.
Defenses against murder homicide
Seeing as the penalties for Las Vegas homicide is truly harsh, the defendant must ready strong defenses. Some of the obvious counter-arguments a defendant could use are self-defense, accident, and the allegations were fabricated.
Now, mitigating factors of a first-degree Nevada murder case could help the defendant be less liable to the charges. These factors include the defendant having no history of criminal activity, the Las Vegas homicide being done while the defendant is under extreme mental stress, the victim actually consented to the act, and more elements that will see the defendant in a better light.
It is apparent that Nevada murder homicide holds some of the most severe penalties in Nevada which is only fitting as it also is the most serious violent crime in the country. But there is a way to evade it, especially if you are completely faultless. Enlist the help of a Las Vegas criminal defense attorney to prove this.