Most jurisdictions define willful as a specific intent to kill, purposely, or express malice. Jurisdictions differ when interpreting deliberate and premeditated. A minority of jurisdictions equate express malice or purposely with deliberation and premeditation, which means that the prosecution need only prove specific intent to kill for a first-degree premeditated murder conviction. 1 However, this interpretation could blur the distinction between first and second-degree murder. The majority of jurisdictions have defined deliberateas calm and methodical, without passion oranger. 2 Premeditated generally means the defendant reflected on the act or planned ahead. 3 In other words, if the defendant specifically intends to kill the victim and rationally, purposefully, takes steps that culminate in the victim’s death, the defendant has committed first-degree premeditated murder in many jurisdictions.
Often it is the act itself that proves the killing was willful, deliberate, and premeditated. If the killing is carried out in a manner that indicates a strong and calculated desire to bring about the victim’s death, the trier of fact can and often does conclude that the murder was premeditated. 4
Most jurisdictions agree that an extended period of timeis not a requirement of premeditation. 5Thus a murder can b e premeditated and first degree even if it is conceived only moments before the actual killing. 6 Some jurisdictions do not require any appreciable time lapse between the formation of intent and the criminal act. 7
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