New Hampshire Revised Statutes 630:1-a – First Degree Murder
Current as of: 2023 | Check for updates
|
Other versions
I. A person is guilty of murder in the first degree if he:
(a) Purposely causes the death of another; or
(b) Knowingly causes the death of:
(1) Another before, after, while engaged in the commission of, or while attempting to commit felonious sexual assault as defined in N.H. Rev. Stat. § 632-A:3;
(2) Another before, after, while engaged in the commission of, or while attempting to commit robbery or burglary while armed with a deadly weapon, the death being caused by the use of such weapon;
(3) Another in perpetrating or attempting to perpetrate arson as defined in N.H. Rev. Stat. § 634:1, I, II, or III;
(4) The president or president-elect or vice-president or vice-president-elect of the United States, the governor or governor-elect of New Hampshire or any state or any member or member-elect of the congress of the United States, or any candidate for such office after such candidate has been nominated at his party’s primary, when such killing is motivated by knowledge of the foregoing capacity of the victim.
II. For the purpose of N.H. Rev. Stat. § 630:1-a, I(a), “purposely” shall mean that the actor’s conscious object is the death of another, and that his act or acts in furtherance of that object were deliberate and premeditated.
III. A person convicted of a murder in the first degree shall be sentenced to life imprisonment and shall not be eligible for parole at any time.
IV. For the purposes of this section and N.H. Rev. Stat. § 630:1-b, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 630:2, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 630:3, and N.H. Rev. Stat. § 630:4, the meaning of “another” shall include a fetus as defined in paragraph V.
V. (a) Nothing in paragraph IV shall apply to:
(1) Any act committed by the pregnant woman;
(2) Any act committed at the request or direction of the pregnant woman or for the benefit of the pregnant woman;
(3) Any act performed by a physician or other medical professional in the course of such physician’s or medical professional’s professional duties, including but not limited to, an act that results in the termination of a pregnancy; or
(4) Any act taken in furtherance of the lawful dispensation or administration of prescription or nonprescription medication.
(b) In this section:
(1) “Fetus” means an unborn offspring, from the embryo stage which is the end of the twentieth week after conception or, in the case of in vitro fertilization, the end of the twentieth week after implantation, until birth.
(2) “Pregnant” means the female reproductive condition of having one or more developing embryos or fetuses implanted in the uterus or elsewhere in the female body.
(3) “Pregnancy” means one or more developing embryos or fetuses implanted in the uterus or elsewhere in the female body.
(a) Purposely causes the death of another; or
Terms Used In New Hampshire Revised Statutes 630:1-a
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies corporate and politic as well as to individuals. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:9
- state: when applied to different parts of the United States, may extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall include said district and territories. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:4
- United States: shall include said district and territories. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:4
(b) Knowingly causes the death of:
(1) Another before, after, while engaged in the commission of, or while attempting to commit felonious sexual assault as defined in N.H. Rev. Stat. § 632-A:3;
(2) Another before, after, while engaged in the commission of, or while attempting to commit robbery or burglary while armed with a deadly weapon, the death being caused by the use of such weapon;
(3) Another in perpetrating or attempting to perpetrate arson as defined in N.H. Rev. Stat. § 634:1, I, II, or III;
(4) The president or president-elect or vice-president or vice-president-elect of the United States, the governor or governor-elect of New Hampshire or any state or any member or member-elect of the congress of the United States, or any candidate for such office after such candidate has been nominated at his party’s primary, when such killing is motivated by knowledge of the foregoing capacity of the victim.
II. For the purpose of N.H. Rev. Stat. § 630:1-a, I(a), “purposely” shall mean that the actor’s conscious object is the death of another, and that his act or acts in furtherance of that object were deliberate and premeditated.
III. A person convicted of a murder in the first degree shall be sentenced to life imprisonment and shall not be eligible for parole at any time.
IV. For the purposes of this section and N.H. Rev. Stat. § 630:1-b, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 630:2, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 630:3, and N.H. Rev. Stat. § 630:4, the meaning of “another” shall include a fetus as defined in paragraph V.
V. (a) Nothing in paragraph IV shall apply to:
(1) Any act committed by the pregnant woman;
(2) Any act committed at the request or direction of the pregnant woman or for the benefit of the pregnant woman;
(3) Any act performed by a physician or other medical professional in the course of such physician’s or medical professional’s professional duties, including but not limited to, an act that results in the termination of a pregnancy; or
(4) Any act taken in furtherance of the lawful dispensation or administration of prescription or nonprescription medication.
(b) In this section:
(1) “Fetus” means an unborn offspring, from the embryo stage which is the end of the twentieth week after conception or, in the case of in vitro fertilization, the end of the twentieth week after implantation, until birth.
(2) “Pregnant” means the female reproductive condition of having one or more developing embryos or fetuses implanted in the uterus or elsewhere in the female body.
(3) “Pregnancy” means one or more developing embryos or fetuses implanted in the uterus or elsewhere in the female body.