Frustrated Murder - Can a Missed Attempt Be Considered a Crime?

What is frustrated murder? Murder is defined as the intention and act of ending another person's. However, since murder is a serious crime, even if the victim was not killed, the mere attempt of it makes one liable for the crime.

Murder is the illegal killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Malice aforethought is also referred to as the intention to commit the unlawful act. However, the degrees of murder vary according to the intent and manner of killing another individual. Depending on the maliciousness and premeditation of the crime, murder can be categorized under a certain degree in which the offender shall be penalized accordingly.

Frustrated murder is when the offender intended and committed all the acts of execution to consequently lead to the death of another human being. However, the consummation of the act was not done due to circumstances independent from the will of the offender. It means that there was malice aforethought, the intention that leads to the cause of death was evident but the death was not accomplished.

Elements of Frustrated Murder

Frustrated murder is not synonymous with homicide since the act included one or all of the factors that make it an act of murder. There was overwhelming or removal of impunity in the part of the victim. There are a number of mitigating circumstances which may increase or decrease the severity of the offense such as:

Adequate provocation. The murder was committed under the influence of adequate provocation which means that the offender had absolute loss of control causing the death of another human being. The offender solely believed that the victim did something to provoke his murderous action.

Unnecessary defense force. This is also popularly called self defense or defense of another individual. The offender was caused to kill the victim due to the fact that he solely believed that he or she or another individual was placed in imminent harm or threatened of death. The murder was only committed in order to protect and preserve his or her life or the life of another person.

Prevention of felony. The offender solely believed that the victim was supposed to commit a felony which would threaten the life, reputation or property of another individual thereby resulting to the murder. Premeditation is still present but circumstances can be justified.

Coercion or necessity. The offender committed murder because he or she was coerced or forced to do so. Another human being may be placed in imminent harm or threatened of death if the crime was not committed. A conspirator may be identified and the offender considered an accomplice or accessory.

Sanctions for Frustrated Murder

The law strictly prohibits ending the life of another human being. Whether it is by intention or accident, penalties and justice will be served to the victim. During frustrated murder, the planning and acts of execution have been accomplished except for the intended result of death. The charges may be reduced as inflicting physical harm on the victim and indicating malicious aforethought or premeditation thereby making the felony punishable by reclusion temporal.

The offender may be penalized by reclusion temporal which is second degree punishment. Fines can range from $1,000 to $100,000 and the offender can be imprisoned from one to twenty years depending of severity of the felony and the inclusion of other malicious persons.

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