Question

Brian wants to try out his new gun. So he walks into a crowd and lets a few shots go just to see what might happen. Brian does not have the intent to kill anyone. One person dies from a gunshot wound from Brian's gun. What, if any crime should Brian be charged with?

1. Felony murder

2. 1st degree premeditated murder

3. second degree murder as a depraved indifference murder

4. voluntary manslaughter

Answer 1

• He could be charged with second degree murder as a depraved indifference murder.
• "Depraved heart" murder is a description of a specific type of scenario and mindset that can lead a court to decide someone has committed murder. It's actually just one of the many specific kinds of murder you can be charged with if you kill someone in America. (For example, the legal doctrine of "felony murder," which some states use, means you can be charged with murder if you accidentally kill someone while committing a totally separate felony — like robbing a store).
• Sometimes it's called "depraved-indifference murder," which means the same thing. Either way, it's how courts in some states talk about the actions of a defendant who demonstrated "callous disregard for human life" that ultimately killed someone.
• People who might be convicted of depraved heart murder would include someone who fires a gun into a crowded room, killing someone, or a person who drives a car recklessly into a parade route, striking and killing a bystander.
• A depraved heart murder is often described as a wanton and willful killing. The term 'depraved heart' means something more than conduct amounting to a high or unreasonable risk to human life. The perpetrator must [or reasonably should] realize the risk his behavior has created to the extent that his conduct may be termed willful. Moreover, the conduct must contain an element of viciousness or contemptuous disregard for the value of human life which conduct characterizes that behavior as wanton.