Searching for criminal complaint against Jeffery Trevino I found
Count 1 Murder-second degree-with intent-not premeditated.
Count 2 Caused the death of Kira Steger without intent to effect the death of any person while attempting to commit a felony.
Can anyone tell me what the heck count 2 means?
I can help a little.
Count 1 is obvious: it alleges that JT caused the death of Kira without premeditation.
Count 2 means that Kira died while JT was committing a felony, but he didn't mean to kill her. That's known as "felony murder." Where, if someone dies during the commission of a crime, a person can be charged with murder of that person, even if murder wasn't the intent - commonly seen when you have multiple perpetrators of a crime, like a robbery, and someone dies - all perps can be charged with the murder of that person under the felony murder rule.
SO, in this case, it could probably be that Kira died while JT was attempting to assault her or perhaps strangle her. Minnesota charges out domestic assault by strangulation as a felony, which would also trigger felony murder if she died while he was squeezing her neck - not intending to kill her, but to scare her or something. Not that I am saying those are the exact circumstances, because we don't know, but that would be the type of thing you would be seeing in a felony murder charge.
So really, the question is, why are there two counts for just one murder? (This can also help with other cases, too.)
Prosecutors in some states may list multiple charges based off the same crime for several reasons. Even if the charges appear similar, they have slightly different nuances (like the two counts in this case) which make them different.
First, the state might charge out multiple counts based off of the same offense due to double jeopardy. You can't charge one thing, have the person be found not guilty, and then say "OH, well he/she COULD have been charged with this instead" based off of the alleged criminal conduct. That person has already been found not guilty of that crime based off of that conduct (note: this is not the same as when someone assaults someone, and they are found not guilty of assault, but then the person dies later as a result of their injuries from the assault - that is not a double jeopardy situation, as they would now have a murder, which could NOT have been charged at the time as the person was still living). The state would put the multiple charges on to cover their bases in the event the person may be found guilty of one charge but not the other. So think about it this way: if the charge COULD have been brought at the time, but wasn't, to charge the person with that later, after a verdict, would be double jeopardy.
Another reason the state might charge multiple similar counts is to entice the defendant into accepting a plea. As in: Plead to count 1, we will drop count 2. You see this quite a bit in DWI cases in Minnesota, where the defendant is charged with driving over .08 and also driving under the influence of a narcotic/alcohol without a specific limit. The defendant will plead to one charge and the state will drop the other.
I hope that helps a little.
