First and second degree murder defined; punishment (§ 18.2-32)—Virginia Decoded

First and second degree murder defined; punishment

Murder, other than capital murder, by poison, lying in wait, imprisonment, starving, or by any willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or in the commission of, or attempt to commit, arson, rape, forcible sodomy, inanimate or animate object sexual penetration, robbery, burglary or abduction, except as provided in § 18.2-31, is murder of the first degree, punishable as a Class 2 felony.All murder other than capital murder and murder in the first degree is murder of the second degree and is punishable by confinement in a state correctional facility for not less than five nor more than forty years.

History

Code 1950, § 18.1-21; 1960, c. 358; 1962, c. 42; 1975, cc. 14, 15; 1976, c. 503; 1977, cc. 478, 492; 1981, c. 397; 1993, cc. 463, 490; 1998, c. 281.

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Court Decisions

Ball v. Com. (SCV, 01/16/81)
. . . was felony murder of the first degree under § 18.2-32. The evidence, construed in the light most . . .

. . . Mir Aimal Kasi v. Ronald J. Angelone, Director of the . . . (Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 08/15/02)
. . . murder of Bennett, see Va.Code Ann. § 18.2-32 (Michie Supp.2001); the malicious woundings of . . .

Turner v. Com. (SCV, 11/26/80)
. . . with a deadly weapon is capital murder. Code § 18.2-32 provides that murder "in the commission . . .

Willis v. Com. (COA, 06/05/90)
. . . Code § 18.2-32 may be accomplished without using a firearm. However, murder under Code § 18.2-32 . . .

Smith v. Commonwealth (SCV, 10/06/78)
. . . time of the crimes, Code || 18.2-10; 18.1-31 and 18.2-32 were in force, the latter two sections . . .

Wooden v. Com. (SCV, 12/04/81)
. . . under Virginia's felony-murder statute, Code § 18.2-32,[1] one of the perpetrators of an armed . . .

LeVasseur v. Com. (SCV, 06/17/83)
. . . the view that the felony-murder statute, Code § 18.2-32, applies where a killing is so closely . . .

Jimenez v. Com. (SCV, 03/01/91)
. . . felony murder of the first degree under [Code] § 18.2-32."[4]Id. . . .

Marshall v. Com. (COA, 02/24/98)
. . . degree (felony) murder in violation of Code § 18.2-32 in the death of his infant son, Tyler . . .

Com. v. Jenkins (SCV, 04/17/98)
. . . feloniously killing Jackson, in violation of Code § 18.2-32, and for use of a firearm in the . . .

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Amendment Attempts

SB449: Death penalty; abolishes penalty, including those persons currently under a death sentence. (failed)

HB1779: Death penalty; abolition of current penalty. (failed)

HB2263: Death penalty; abolition of current penalty.

SB1165: Death penalty; abolition of current penalty.

SB449: Death penalty; abolishes penalty, including those persons currently under a death sentence.

HB661: Capital murder; death penalty for willful, deliberate, etc., killing of a law-enforcement officer. (failed)

SB379: Capital murder; death penalty for willful, deliberate, etc., killing of a law-enforcement officer. (failed)

HB394: Capital murder; authorizes death penalty. (failed)