Suffolk County Murder

Have you recently been accused of manslaughter, murder or homicide charges in Suffolk County or Nassau County? If so, you can expect that the prosecution will do everything possible to evaluate the grounds to convict you. In many cases, the prosecution and the district attorney will leave no stone unturned in an effort to discover the evidence that could help put you behind bars. Some of the most serious murder charges can result in life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or even the death penalty.

Any murder charge, however, is serious and should encourage you to talk to an attorney who knows what it is like to face these life changing allegations. The impact on your reputation as well as your freedom, following a murder charge can be significant and that there should be no doubt about the benefits of hiring an attorney who aggressively protects you and your family from these negative implications. In order to prepare a compelling defense, an attorney must be prepared to investigate every element of the charge and argue against it. These include asking critical questions like:

• What role did victim’s health play in the death?
• How did the victim pass away?
• Was the defendant premeditated in these actions?
• Was the defendant acting in self-defense?
• Did the police obtain evidence in this crime without a warrant?
• Did the police violate any other procedural rules?

The criminal elements of murder require that it must have been a premediated act or an extremely reckless action that caused someone else to pass away. Certain elements of your crime can elevate it to other levels of felony charges. Knowing what to expect and how the different charges against you could impact your future are two things that need to be carefully considered when you are being investigated for murder or when you have already been charged. Do not make the mistake of ignoring the severity of these charges, as a conviction can be life-changing.

There are several different types of murder charges in Suffolk County, but the most concerning are murder in the second degree and murder in the first degree. As a class A-1 felony, murder in the second degree refers to causing the death of another individual. You must have met the following elements in order to be charged as well as convicted of second degree murder in New York:

• You have acted so recklessly as to cause the death of someone else and the situation shows you had an indifference to human life.

• You were committing another felony at the time, including kidnapping, burglary, robbery, rape, arson or sexual abuse and caused the death of a non-participant while fleeing the crime or carrying out the crime.

• You intended to kill someone and carried out that intent by killing that individual or a third person.

• A defendant, older than age 18, acted recklessly enough to kill someone under the age of 11 years old with a depraved indifference to human life.

For these first four elements alone, the consequences of a conviction of second degree murder could be up to 25 years in prison. If you are committing a crime such as a criminal sexual act, sexual abuse or rape, while you were older than age 18, but the person who passed away was younger than 14; life imprisonment without parole is likely. Murder in the first degree shows a number of different factors that could elevate your charges to this level.

As a class A-1 felony, if you were involved in murder for hire, killing a victim such as a police officer or a peace officer carrying out his or her job responsibilities, killing someone while serving a life sentence or killing someone while committing or leaving a second degree felony scene or carrying out a terrorist act or torture at the time; your case can be elevated from second degree murder to first degree murder. No matter the type of murder charges currently assessed in your case, you can’t afford to wait. The prosecution will be working hard on their end to put you behind bars and change your future and you need a Suffolk County murder attorney who is working just as hard on your side.