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Ark. Code Ann. § 5-10-102

Murder in the first degree

Applied in 184 court decisions — leading case Echols v. State (1996)

Most recently applied in 2025 Ark. App. 607 - Malik Dority v. State of Arkansas (December 2025)

Acts 1975, No. 280, § 1502; 1981, No. 620, § 10; A.S.A. 1947, § 41-1502; Acts 1987 (1st Ex

How often courts cite this section

198819902000201020202025120
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) A person commits murder in the first degree if: Acting alone or with one (1) or more other persons: The person commits or attempts to commit a felony; and

(2) In the course of and in the furtherance of the felony or in immediate flight from the felony, the person or an accomplice causes the death of any person under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life;

(3) With a purpose of causing the death of another person, the person causes the death of another person; or

(4) The person knowingly causes the death of a person fourteen (14) years of age or younger at the time the murder was committed.

(5) It is an affirmative defense to any prosecution under subdivision (a)(1) of this section for an offense in which the defendant was not the only participant that the defendant: Did not commit the homicidal act or in any way solicit, command, induce, procure, counsel, or aid the homicidal act's commission;

(6) Was not armed with a deadly weapon;

(7) Reasonably believed that no other participant was armed with a deadly weapon; and

(8) Reasonably believed that no other participant intended to engage in conduct that could result in death or serious physical injury.

(9) Murder in the first degree is a Class Y felony.

(10) Unless the application of § 16-93-621 results in a person's being eligible for parole at an earlier date, if a person was younger than eighteen (18) years of age at the time he or she committed murder in the first degree and is sentenced to life imprisonment, the person is eligible for parole after serving a minimum of twenty-five (25) years' imprisonment.

Current official text: Arkansas General Assembly. Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Arkansas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.