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Haw. Rev. Stat. § 707-701

Murder in the first degree

Applied in 16 court decisions — leading case 35 Cal. 3d 824 - People v. Burroughs (1984)

Most recently applied in Commonwealth v. Tejeda (December 2015)

L 1972, c 9, pt of §1; am L 1986, c 314, §49; am L 2001, c 91, §4; am L 2006, c 230, §27; am L 2011, c 63, §2; am L 2016, c 214, §1

How often courts cite this section

1982199020002010201530
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 the offense of murder in the first degree if the person intentionally or knowingly causes the death of:

(a) More than one person in the same or separate incident;

(b) A law enforcement officer, judge, or prosecutor arising out of the performance of official duties;

(c) A person known by the defendant to be a witness in a criminal prosecution and the killing is related to the person's status as a witness;

(d) A person by a hired killer, in which event both the person hired and the person responsible for hiring the killer shall be punished under this section;

(e) A person while the defendant was imprisoned;

(f) A person from whom the defendant has been restrained, by order of any court, including an ex parte order, from contacting, threatening, or physically abusing pursuant to chapter 586;

(g) A person who is being protected by a police officer ordering the defendant to leave the premises of that protected person pursuant to section 709-906(4), during the effective period of that order;

(h) A person known by the defendant to be a witness in a family court proceeding and the killing is related to the person's status as a witness; or

(i) A person whom the defendant restrained with intent to:

(i) Hold the person for ransom or reward; or

(ii) Use the person as a shield or hostage.

(2) Murder in the first degree is a felony for which the defendant shall be sentenced to imprisonment as provided in section 706-656.

Official source: Hawaii State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Hawaii statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.