Murder
The state of North Dakota classifies murder as the most serious form of killing another individual.
This article will help you understand what to do if you or a loved one has been charged with murder in North Dakota, when to seek legal counsel, and how it’s possible to defend yourself against these charges.
Murder Charges in North Dakota
The state of North Dakota has three different classifications of homicide, or causing another person to die: murder, manslaughter, and negligent homicide. This article focuses specifically on murder. If you’re charged with manslaughter or negligent homicide, we have pages that discuss those charges, as well.
Murder is the most serious of the three types of homicide in North Dakota and these charges carry the harshest penalties.
Chapter 12.1-16 of the North Dakota Century Code outlines what constitutes a murder. There are a few important distinctions that cause a homicide to be elevated to a murder charge.
To be found guilty of murder in North Dakota, the act must be intentional, meaning you intentionally or knowingly caused the death of another human being. Importantly, you can also be charged with murder if you caused the death of another person by acting in a way that showed extreme indifference to the value of human life.
What does this mean? Here’s an example to illustrate. Say you get into an argument at a bar with another person. You get kicked out by bouncers, but you’re still so enraged, you sit in your parked car and wait for the other person to leave the bar. Your intent is to fight them and inflict serious bodily injury. You see the person leave the bar, so you exit your vehicle and sucker punch the other person. The fight gets out of control. So much so that the person gets taken to the hospital and later dies.
Under these circumstances in North Dakota, you could be charged with murder.
A story similar to this could be charged as either a Class AA felony (more serious) or a Class A felony (less serious) depending on the circumstances of the case.
A less serious Class A felony could be applied if the accused caused the death of another under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance. This could include things like substantial provocation, a serious event, or situation for which the offender was not culpably responsible for the death.
Murder Penalties in North Dakota
As stated above, the law in North Dakota charges murder as either a Class AA felony or a Class A felony.
Class AA Felony: This is the most serious charge in the state of North Dakota. The penalties for being found guilty of a class AA felony are up to life in prison without parole.
Class A Felony: The maximum penalty includes 20 years in prison and up to a $20,000 fine.
Defending a Murder Charge
There are often two approaches criminal defense attorneys take to defending murder charges. The first is called a complete defense – where your attorney claims total innocence and attempts to get your charges dismissed or you found not guilty at trial.
The other approach to defense is called a partial defense. This defense aims to reduce the charges against you, ideally leading to a criminal conviction with less penalties like manslaughter or negligent homicide.
Complete defenses
Mistaken Identity - Under this defense, the accused claims that the government has charged the wrong person with the crime. Here, it is helpful if the defendant has a plausible alibi and evidence that they were not in the vicinity at the time of the murder.
Attorneys can also place doubt about your presence at the scene of the murder by challenging the government’s evidence. Eyewitnesses do not always recall events as they actually happened and there are many challenges that can be used to question the accuracy of so-called “forensic evidence.”
It is also the government’s and law enforcement’s duty to ensure that the evidence was gathered in a way that follows the constitution and your 4th Amendment rights. Should any evidence be gathered under suspect circumstances, defense attorneys may move to suppress that evidence. When evidence can’t be used against you, it becomes very hard for the government to prove your involvement.
Failure to Prove the Elements - In the American criminal justice system, the government must prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This also means that they must prove you are guilty of all the elements necessary to fit with a particular murder charge.
With a failure to prove the elements defense, attorneys aim to show that the government has not proven the necessary elements to find you guilty of the specific type of murder
It is the government’s burden to prove you are guilty of each and every element of North Dakota’s murder statute.
Self-Defense & Defense of Others - The most common justification for murder is self-defense. To succeed, a defendant must demonstrate that the murder was a legitimate use of force to avoid their own death or serious bodily harm.
The defendant cannot be responsible for the dangerous situation, meaning they should not have instigated what caused the need for self-defense. The amount of force employed must be proportionate to the perceived threat. Furthermore, the defendant's response to the threat cannot occur after the threat of death or bodily harm has gone.
A person may also protect another person from danger, provided they have a reasonable belief that interference was warranted. The person you are defending usually must also have a valid claim to self-defense.
Here, force must be used in a timely and proportional manner to the threat. A reasonable threat of death or physical harm must be perceived. Essentially, if a threatened individual was justified in employing lethal action to protect themselves, someone else can step in and protect them using the same force to stop the threat.
Partial defenses
Crime of Passion - Murders done in the "heat of passion" must not be premeditated. This means they are a genuine spontaneous reaction. Some jurisdictions have adopted the more current definition of "severe mental or emotional distress," and will assess whether another reasonable individual in the same scenario would act the same way. Typically, this argument is only viable if the murder was carried out in direct reaction to the situation, rather than as an act of retaliation or for some other cause.
Emotional Distress or Duress - Criminal attorneys in some states can introduce a defense explaining that their client was under duress or intense emotional distress at the time of the murder. This aims to reduce responsibility and serves as a partial defense to murder. Most states allow a person to plead "provocation," claiming that the victim's conduct prompted them to experience strong fear or anger, even if the killing was otherwise unlawful.
Accidents - Accidental killings are not considered murder and are charged as either manslaughter or negligent homicide in North Dakota. However, if the unintentional homicide occurred while committing a crime or with criminal intent, it might be classified as murder.