MURDER FIRST DEGREE
(Capital)
(Intentional Murder Accompanied
by Torture)
PENAL LAW 125.27(1)(a)(x) (Committed on or after Sept. 1, 1995)
The count is Murder in the First Degree.
Under our law, a defendant is guilty of Murder in the First Degree when, with intent to cause the death of another person, the defendant causes the death of such person [or of a third person]1, and the defendant acted in an especially cruel and wanton manner pursuant to a course of conduct intended to inflict and inflicting torture upon the victim prior to the victim's death, and the defendant was more than eighteen (18) years old at the time of the commission of the crime.
Some of the terms used in this definition have their own special meaning in our law. I will now give you the meaning of the following terms: "intent," "cruel," "wanton," and "torture."
INTENT means conscious objective or purpose. Thus, a person acts with intent to cause the death of another person when his or her conscious objective or purpose is to cause the death of that person.2 A person engages in a course of conduct INTENDED to inflict torture upon the victim prior to the victim's death when his or her conscious objective or purpose is to do so.
CRUEL means disposed to inflict pain or suffering; devoid of human feeling or compassion; hard-hearted, merciless, pitiless,
1If transferred intent applies and is in issue, see Additional Charges at the end of this article.
2See Penal Law § 15.05(1). For an expanded charge on intent, see General