Again, in Texas, it is different re murder/manslaughter - there is no need to show premeditation or motive for murder. You simply have to show intent - did she raise her weapon, aim, and fire it to kill. That's all the prosecution has to show for murder.
"
1. Murder: You commit murder when you intentionally and knowingly take someone else’s life"
4 Types of Criminal Homicide in Texas | Plano Criminal Defense Lawyer
Right - of course Texas law would be so straight to the point. Lol
I watched an interview from a juror from the Trayvon Martin case where she stated that she based her whole decision on how the law was written. So if that’s how the jury will see it and they don’t believe she should have missed those signs where it was a mistake of fact then well...
Murder conviction it is.
JMO: I agree these facts fit the murder statute, she murdered him under TX law. Her case comes down to arguing a justifiable murder. Since TX has the Castle Doctrine, and the Castle Doctrine would justify the murder under TX law if she were in her own home, this case comes down to whether the mistake of fact that she was in her own apartment is found reasonable to the jury.
Unfortunately the language for lesser charges in TX do not seem to fit the facts here.
This is the TX statute that shows the levels of culpability (mens rea/mental state/intent):
PENAL CODE CHAPTER 6. CULPABILITY GENERALLY
BBM
Sec. 6.03. DEFINITIONS OF CULPABLE MENTAL STATES. (a) A person acts intentionally, or with intent, with respect to the nature of his conduct or to a result of his conduct when it is his conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the result.
(b) A person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, with respect to the nature of his conduct or to circumstances surrounding his conduct when he is aware of the nature of his conduct or that the circumstances exist. A person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, with respect to a result of his conduct when he is aware that his conduct is reasonably certain to cause the result.
(c) A person acts recklessly, or is reckless, with respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his conduct when he is aware of but consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that its disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances as viewed from the actor's standpoint.
(d) A person acts with criminal negligence, or is criminally negligent, with respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his conduct when he ought to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances as viewed from the actor's standpoint.
This is the TX homicide statute:
PENAL CODE CHAPTER 19. CRIMINAL HOMICIDE
I bolded the 4 levels of culpability. In TX, murder requires intentionally OR knowingly. Manslaughter requires recklessly. Criminally negligent homicide requires negligently.
AG killed Jean knowingly and intentionally IMO and I think that's hard to debate. As VAgirlatheart commented on above, juries tend to follow the letter of the law. This is because they have to fill out specific jury instruction forms provided by the Judge.
I don't practice law in TX and I don't practice criminal law. But in my civil practice, which includes wrongful death cases applying the same 4 stages of intent that apply in TX, the jury has to select the level of intent before moving on to the follow up questions. If jury instructions are like the ones I've seen in my practice, if the jury selects "intentionally/knowingly" in their verdict they will be shut off from the lesser charges. (As a simple example the jury instructions may state, "if you choose intentionally, go to page 4; if you choose negligently, go to page 6; etc., and not even allow the jury to get to the lesser charges)
As an aside, I genuinely hope I am wrong about this. It is definitely possible that TX case law shows manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide can be applied even to knowing/intentional killings. This is a really tough case and I do not envy that jury at all.
@gitana1 or any other posters with legal experience please chime in.