Essay About Court Of Appeals And Vindictive Crime

Murder In Texas
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Texas and Murder 1
Running head: Texas and Murder
Texas and Murder
Criminal Law
CJ 105
Texas and Murder 2
Introduction
Murder is the most heinous and vindictive crime a person or group of people can commit.
We often wonder what makes an individual or group of individuals want to commit such a crime
that will end a human life so abruptly! Once the crime is committed there is no reversing the
final outcome. What is done is done! I believe no one is born a murderer, but we, as a society
are responsible for giving birth to and implanting the seed to further feed the frenzy and desires
of todays murderers. Penalties imposed upon criminals should match the crimes committed.
therefore, the worst crime possible, murder, should be the worst penalty possible, death. Do the
penalties imposed actually deter the potential murderers from committing the act of unlawfully
taking anothers life! Murder is defined as the un-justified killing of one person by another,
usually distinguished from the crime of manslaughter by the element of malice aforethought.
(Webster Dictionary 2005).
Historical Common Law
Texas became a state on February 28, 1845. Capital punishment has been used in the state of
Texas and its predecessor entities since 1819. Since that time 1153 people have been legally
executed, by a variety of methods such as hanging, firing squad, electrocution and lethal
injection. Most executions were for murder, which was defined as the unlawfully taking of
anothers life, but other crimes such as piracy, cattle rustling, treason, desertion and rape have
been subject to death sentences. Currently, only the crime of “capital murder” or a second
conviction for the rape of someone under 14 is eligible for the death penalty. In order for a
murder to be a “capital murder,” it must meet one of the circumstances described below under
the Capital Offenses section. The latest person to be executed in Texas was Michael Richard on
September 25, 2007. (Gilmer)
Texas and Murder 3
Current Texas State Statue for Murder
In 2007, the court of appeals looked to the Texas capital-murder statute, which reads in
applicable part: (a) A person commits an offense if the person commits murder as defined under
Section 19.02(b)(1) and the person intentionally commits the murder in the course of
committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated sexual assault,
arson, obstruction or retaliation, or terroristic threat under Section 22.07(a)(1), (3), (4), (5), or
commits an offense if he: (1) intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual. The
court of appeals attached great significance to the fact that the capital-murder statute refers to the
murder statute and incorporates it by reference, rather than setting out the elements of murder
separately: Because the penal codes capital murder provision explicitly directs us to its murder
provision, we hold that the offense of murder or an element of murder (either the conduct or a
result) must be committed within this state in order for Texas to have jurisdiction over the
offense of capital murder.
Comparison of Common Law and Todays Texas State Statue
In comparison the two do not differ