Article 125 of New York State law (2010) defines homicide in general as conduct causing the death of a person or an unborn child with which a female has been pregnant for more than 24 weeks. Article 125 differentiates between murder and various levels of manslaughter. Murder is characterized by the presence of intent to cause the death of another person, aiding another person in the commission of such a crime, helping a person to commit suicide, and recklessly engaging in conduct that creates a grave risk of death to another person and thereby causes the death of another person. Murder in the second degree is a class AI felony while aggravated murder has as its victim a police officer or peace officer engaged at the time of the killing in the pursuit of official duties.
Manslaughter in the first degree according to Article 125 (2010), is characterized by intent to cause serious physical injury leading to death or death while under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance which constitutes a mitigating circumstance reducing murder to manslaughter in the first degree. The critical difference between manslaughter and murder is that the former is invariably associated with the existence of some set of mitigating circumstances that are related to emotional stress or distress experienced by the accused. There are many different levels of both murder and manslaughter, expressed as degrees or as aggravated versus non-aggravated action.
New York State Law. (2010). Article 125: Homicide, abortion,
and related offenses. Available at http://ypdcrime.com
/penal.law/article125.htm. Accessed online March 6,
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