Last update - 00:00 21/12/2006
Calls grow for introduction of second-degree murder charge
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent
Advocates for the rights of crime victims and some legal authorities are calling for the introduction into the criminal code of the offense of second-degree murder.
This category would apply to cases in which the accused intended to cause the death of the victim but did not plan the killing in advance.
The arrest of Roman Zadorov on suspicion of murdering 13-year-old Tair Rada in Katzrin two weeks ago offers a potential use of the proposed category.
Assuming he is indicted, if the evidence is insufficient for charging him with first-degree, premeditated, murder, then he would be prosecuted for manslaughter only. The maximum sentence for manslaughter is 20 years.
The Noga Legal Centre for Victims of Crime-Ono Academic College and the Association of Families of Murder Victims (AFMV) are demanding the amendment to the criminal code. Aharon Barak, the former Supreme Court president, has recently supported this move.
The problem has come to light in the wake of several incidents in which the victim was killed in a momentary fit of rage as a result of one or two stab wounds. In such cases, it is very hard to prove that the defendant decided to murder in advance.
"In today's violent atmosphere, when people are being stabbed to death without prior conflict and with no clear motive, it is indeed difficult to convict someone of murder. The legal solution is to define an additional murder offense," says Attorney Dr. Dana Pugach, head of the Noga Center and lecturer on criminal law in the Ono Academic College.
The distinction between first- and second-degree murder is based on the extent of the murderer's awareness that his actions may cause death. Cases of premeditated murder, which the murderer planned in advance and carried out in "cold blood" - without provocation on the victim's part, would be categorized as first-degree murder.
Cases in which the murderer knew with certainty that his action would lead to the victim's death but did not plan the killing in advance would be defined as second-degree murder, as when someone stabs someone in the heart.
The proposed maximum penalty for the "new" offense, which exists in the English and American criminal codes, would be life imprisonment. However, unlike the current situation for the offense of murder, sentencing would not be mandatory and would be left to the discretion of the judge.
On February 12, 2005, Tzahi Yaakov, 29, was stabbed to death in Bat Yam. The 16-year-old attacker knifed him once in the chest after Yaakov drew his attention to money he thought the teen had dropped on the floor. The charge was revised from premeditated murder to manslaughter when the prosecution feared it would not be able to prove the murder was intentional. The attacker was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Six months earlier, David Mesfin, 19, of Rehovot, was stabbed to death by another 16-year-old. The minor received a seven-year prison sentence.
Lara Zinnemann, who is active in AFMV, believes that in cases of premeditated murder the judge should be able to prohibit any reduction in the length of the sentence.
Anat Shoshan, whose husband Avinoam was stabbed to death in April 2003 while strolling with his wife on the Haifa beach, is also active in AFMV. Shoshan's killer was charged with murder, but the Haifa District Court convicted him of manslaughter and sentenced him to 18 yeares in prison.
"Avinoam was not killed, he was murdered. The prosecution knew it would have trouble convicting him of murder, the prosecutor even said it was a pity there wasn't another stab," Shoshan says.
The Justice Ministry said that it intends to reexamine all offenses involving killing. One possibility to be looked into is forming a different scale for killing offenses and introducing an additional, non-premeditated murder offense into the criminal code.