Malice Murder

Malice Murder

Malice Murder

Malice murder is a felony offense in Georgia, which is committed when a homicide is done with express or implied malice.

Malice Murder in Georgia

In Georgia, a person who commits the act of murder can be charged to have committed malice murder or felony murder.

Malice murder is applicable when someone causes the death of another person that is deemed to be unlawful and intentional. Relative to murder, the term malice is considered to imply a clearly deliberate intent to kill void of any legal justification for taking of a life.

n Georgia, a conviction for felony murder can result in a sentence of life imprisonment with or without parole, or a death penalty (lethal injection).

Malice Murder - OCGA § 16-5-1

  • (a) A person commits the offense of murder when he unlawfully and with malice aforethought, either express or implied, causes the death of another human being.
  • (b) Express malice is that deliberate intention unlawfully to take the life of another human being which is manifested by external circumstances capable of proof. Malice shall be implied where no considerable provocation appears and where all the circumstances of the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart.
  • (c) A person commits the offense of murder when, in the commission of a felony, he or she causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice.
  • (d) A person commits the offense of murder in the second degree when, in the commission of cruelty to children in the second degree, he or she causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice.
  • (e) (1) A person convicted of the offense of murder shall be punished by death, by imprisonment for life without parole, or by imprisonment for life.
  • (2) A person convicted of the offense of murder in the second degree shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than ten nor more than 30 years.

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