2019 Georgia Code
Title 16 - Crimes and Offenses
Chapter 5 - Crimes Against the Person
Article 1 - Homicide
§ 16-5-1. Murder; malice murder; felony murder; murder in the second degree

Universal Citation: GA Code § 16-5-1 (2019)
  • (a) A person commits the offense of murder when he unlawfully and with malice aforethought, either express or implied, causes the death of another human being.

  • (b) Express malice is that deliberate intention unlawfully to take the life of another human being which is manifested by external circumstances capable of proof. Malice shall be implied where no considerable provocation appears and where all the circumstances of the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart.

  • (c) A person commits the offense of murder when, in the commission of a felony, he or she causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice.

  • (d) A person commits the offense of murder in the second degree when, in the commission of cruelty to children in the second degree, he or she causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice.

  • (e)

    • (1) A person convicted of the offense of murder shall be punished by death, by imprisonment for life without parole, or by imprisonment for life.

    • (2) A person convicted of the offense of murder in the second degree shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than ten nor more than 30 years.

History:

Laws 1833, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 783; Code 1863, § 4217; Code 1868, § 4254; Code 1873, § 4320; Code 1882, § 4320; Penal Code 1895, § 60; Penal Code 1910, § 60; Code 1933, § 26-1002; Code 1933, § 26-1101, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1; Ga. L. 2009, p. 223, § 1/SB 13; Ga. L. 2014, p. 444, § 1-1/HB 271.

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