US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

      (a)      A murder is in the first degree if it is:

            (1)      a deliberate, premeditated, and willful killing;

            (2)      committed by lying in wait;

            (3)      committed by poison; or

            (4)      committed in the perpetration of or an attempt to perpetrate:

                  (i)      arson in the first degree;

                  (ii)      burning a barn, stable, tobacco house, warehouse, or other outbuilding that:

                        1.      is not parcel to a dwelling; and

                        2.      contains cattle, goods, wares, merchandise, horses, grain, hay, or tobacco;

                  (iii)      burglary in the first, second, or third degree;

                  (iv)      carjacking or armed carjacking;

                  (v)      escape in the first degree from a State correctional facility or a local correctional facility;

                  (vi)      kidnapping under § 3-502 or § 3-503(a)(2) of this article;

                  (vii)      mayhem;

                  (viii)      rape;

                  (ix)      robbery under § 3-402 or § 3-403 of this article;

                  (x)      sexual offense in the first or second degree;

                  (xi)      sodomy; or

                  (xii)      a violation of § 4-503 of this article concerning destructive devices.

      (b)      (1)      A person who commits a murder in the first degree is guilty of a felony and on conviction shall be sentenced to:

                  (i)      death;

                  (ii)      imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole; or

                  (iii)      imprisonment for life.

            (2)      Unless a sentence of death is imposed in compliance with § 2-202 of this subtitle and Subtitle 3 of this title, or a sentence of imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole is imposed in compliance with § 2-203 of this subtitle and § 2-304 of this title, the sentence shall be imprisonment for life.