2016 California Code
Penal Code - PEN
PART 1 - OF CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
TITLE 8 - OF CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON
CHAPTER 1 - Homicide
Section 189.

189. All murder which is perpetrated by means of a destructive device or explosive, a weapon of mass destruction, knowing use of ammunition designed primarily to penetrate metal or armor, poison, lying in wait, torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or which is committed in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate, arson, rape, carjacking, robbery, burglary, mayhem, kidnapping, train wrecking, or any act punishable under Section 206, 286, 288, 288a, or 289, or any murder which is perpetrated by means of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle, intentionally at another person outside of the vehicle with the intent to inflict death, is murder of the first degree. All other kinds of murders are of the second degree.

As used in this section, destructive device means any destructive device as defined in Section 16460, and explosive means any explosive as defined in Section 12000 of the Health and Safety Code.

As used in this section, weapon of mass destruction means any item defined in Section 11417.

To prove the killing was deliberate and premeditated, it shall not be necessary to prove the defendant maturely and meaningfully reflected upon the gravity of his or her act.

(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 178, Sec. 51. Effective January 1, 2011. Operative January 1, 2012, by Sec. 107 of Ch. 178. Note: This section was amended on June 5, 1990, by initiative Prop. 115.)