Understanding Second Degree Murder

Most of us have heard of first-degree murder, but fewer of us have heard of second-degree murder. Even fewer of us understand what second-degree murder is and the implications that the charge can have. 

For those of you looking to become prosecutors, defense attorneys, or criminal investigators, this blog post is for you. Learn more about a second-degree murder charge down below.

State by State

Remember that most criminal law is determined on the state level, not on the federal level. This means that states may have different nuances in criminal law and definitions. If you have questions or concerns about a specific state in particular, you should research that state’s statutes for more accurate information.

That being said, there are many similarities among states regarding criminal laws and regulations. This blog post will discuss second-degree murder in the most general sense possible, but again, look up state statutes for more specific information. 

What is Second Degree Murder?

It is easiest to answer this question by first going over what first-degree murder is. Murder in the first degree is the most intense and grave of all the murder offenses. First-degree murder is any murder that is committed intentionally — meaning that it is willful and is premeditated. An example of first-degree murder would be if someone planned to kill their boss because they did not give them the promotion that they wanted. In this case, the murder was planned and premeditated, and would fall under the category of first-degree murder.

Second-degree murder is a bit more complicated to understand. Essentially, second-degree murder is intentional, but not premeditated. The mentality of the murderer at the time is different between first and second-degree murder. Usually, with second-degree murder, the defendant acts in an impulsive manner, meaning the murder was not premeditated, but the defendant still knew the consequences of their actions.

Perhaps the above paragraph will be easier to understand with an example. Let’s say Tom went to Jack’s house to discuss a business deal. Tom went to the house with no intention to murder Jack, but at the house, they get into an argument over the business deal. Tom gets angry and stabs Jack with a knife from the kitchen, killing him. There was no premeditation because Tom had no plans to kill Jack before going to his house. However, he knew that stabbing Jack could possibly end Jack’s life.

Additionally, some states use second-degree murder as a catch-all term for any intentional or reckless killing that does not meet the standards for first-degree murder.

What to Do

If you are facing a second-degree murder charge, it is imperative that you reach out to a criminal defense attorney. Second-degree murder is an extremely serious offense that carries years of jail time, not to mention a huge blemish on your record. 

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Making Your Routine Work for You

I have a confession to make: I am pretty lazy with my morning routine. Sure, I get the basics accomplished. I wash my face as often as I can manage and I always brush my teeth, twice-a-day. I do not want to be unhealthy or lazy to a degree that I am not hygienic!

Lately, I have been researching how to make morning routines more efficient. I thought that if I could make washing my face, eating breakfast, and brushing my teeth more efficient, I would always be inclined to accomplish these tasks. An added benefit is that I now have more time! Here are some of the most common tools used by people to make their routine a better fit within their schedule:

The Most Important Meal

I found that many people who are concerned about the efficiency of their routines replace their breakfast with meal replacement bars. The products can be purchased in bulk and contain all of the essential vitamins, minerals, and calories a person needs for their first (and most important) meal of the day.

Clean Face, Clean Life

Finding information on what people do to cut down on the products and time that they use for face-washing was difficult. Obviously, there is no way to get around the time it takes to wash your face with warm water and a cleanser.

However, there are combination tools like moisturizers with sunscreen in them that free people from needing to apply multiple products. Additionally, face wipes can be used as a time-saving tool for late nights when getting out of bed to wash your face seems impossible. However, it is not as cleanly as actually washing your face, so only use this tool sparingly.

Brush to Judgment

Walking around the toothbrush aisle can be intimidating because there are so many options. But if you are looking for the dental care options that can lead your routine to be efficient, your options are thankfully narrowed.

Powered brushes are better for your dental health and require less energy to be exerted. Most people mistake good brushing practices with strong, forceful brushing. Instead of following recommended tactics that dental practices like Babylon Dental Care suggest, many consumers press too firmly on their teeth and gums.

Powered brushes with softer heads make damaging your teeth like less likely. But they are also more efficient. The efficiency is derived from being able to clean your teeth better in a shorter amount of time. Similarly, water flossers are another product that people use to shorten their daily routine.

Products like water flossers, meal replacement bars, powered toothbrushes, face wipes, and any other tools are a worthwhile investment to make. Look at your own personal needs to determine what products can be used to optimize your routine.

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Proper Risk Disclosure

As someone who is new to investing, I am still getting familiar with the terminology that investors are exposed to on a day to day basis. The risk warnings contain a lot of strong wording, and they were really intimidating to me at first. But upon further review, a standard risk warning only does so much to warn investors of the risks associated with any particular fund. Let’s take a look at a standard risk disclosure, and examine about what risks it actually warns investors.


Some of the statements in this warning may lead us to believe that we can lose all of our money in an investment without legal recourse. For example, they say that no investment is risk-free and that they can not guarantee that you will not lose capital through investment. However, I recently found out about fund managers who sold LJM funds without disclosing the risks and now they could be in big trouble. People who invested in the LJM Preservation and Growth Fund were prompted with a standard risk warning similar to the one seen above. In February, that fund lost more than 80% of its value in just two days. This fund was partaking in extremely risky and complex investment strategies. They gave investors a standard warning, but failed to disclose the inherent risks with their unique tactics.

Surprisingly, there is actually a limit to how much one can lose before a hedge fund is considered to be acting negligently under the law. Investors recognize that by investing in mutual funds or index funds, they run the risk of losing a certain portion of their assets should the economy collapse or a certain sector do poorly. These investors are okay with this and in the worst situations they may end up losing a portion of their capital. Almost no investors will invest in a fund that exposes them to the chance of losing 80% of their investment, however. This is considered to be an extremely dangerous investment. Because of the inherent risks, LJM had a legal obligation to disclose their tactics to investors. When they failed to do this, they became legally responsible for the losses that their investors incurred. Thankfully, the attorneys are Erez Law are working to get this money back for investors.

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Protecting Whistleblowers Must Include Social and Legal Protection

While we all believe in business and government working for our benefit on some level, the reality is that you cant count on that being the case at all times. In fact, plenty of businesses and government agencies eagerly break the rules if they can. Or, perhaps more charitably, people within those business and government offices will break the rules if they think they arent being watched.

An unfortunate amount of effort is put into some businesses and government offices in finding ways around the law and around accountability. This is the reason whistleblowers are so important. Often, whistleblowers come in for a whole lot of blowback. They may reveal things we dont really want to face, and they may cost businesses or governments a lot of money to recover face, pay fines, or restore their processes to the legal level. Whistleblowers, then, are an inconvenience to a lot of people, and yet what they do is invaluable. Thats why we have to protect them.

All too often, we let whistleblowers down in multiple ways. In the first case, we dont protect them legally. Even though, as the whistleblowing lawyers at the Melton Law Firm point out, there are laws in place to protect people in such an event, often, the law isnt used to its full advantage to provide that legal protection. The reason for this is largely because of the second level: our social reaction.

While in theory we probably all laud whistleblowers, those negative consequences often make many of us turn on them. Perhaps they embarrass our political party or people we support in power in government. Perhaps they harm a major local business that may result in layoffs or raised prices. On the surface, then, from our limited perspective, we might see the whistleblower as an enemy.

And yet, that is simply not the case. Change the political party and consider the business in the next town over, and youd clearly be glad to see the whistle blown on that operation. Thats all the more true because of the kinds of things whistleblowers expose, such as (once again, according to Melton Law Firm): tax violations, embezzlement, fraud, Ponzi schemes, insider trading, and unlawful billing. Those are major issues, and only some of the most common ones whistleblowers expose.

But they wont get the protection they need (and they also will probably stop coming forward) if we dont all come together to insist they get the full protection of the law and the full support of their communities.

In these partisan times, its easy to only support those who benefit your beliefs or your immediate position, but we need to see beyond that and remember to support those who are doing an absolute good for our society. Thats why we have to make sure whistleblowers continue to come forward and they continue to be supported, both at the community level and at the legal level.

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The plight of the American worker







So, what can you do?



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How to Keep Your Gums Healthy

When you think about oral health, the first things that come into your mind are teeth. That is okay, because the teeth are truly essential parts of oral health, but it is important to point out that the gums are equally important.

Not taking care of your gums may even lead to gum disease, and ultimately, to tooth loss. So, you should take care of your gums as well, because if you focus too much on your teeth and disregard the other parts of your mouth, you may still end up losing those teeth anyway.

Brush your teeth and gums

If you don’t brush your teeth properly and regularly, food debris, plaque, and bacteria may accumulate enough to damage both your teeth and gums. Also, it is a good idea to brush your gums lightly with a circular motion, to remove further debris that may travel around your mouth during brushing. Bacteria is really the danger you have to worry about. Brush twice a day.

Floss once a day

If you need to brush twice a day, you only need to floss once. Flossing is important in removing particles, because your toothbrush may not be able to reach all the little spaces in your mouth, particularly those between your teeth.

Avoid smoking

Even if you clean your mouth properly, you may still have gum problems if you expose it to harmful products, like tobacco. Smoking has been known to be linked with oral problems, not to mention that it can weaken your immune system. If you have a weak immune system, it will not be very effective in fighting off gum infections.

Visit your dentist regularly

It cannot be stressed enough that bacteria are the main enemies of your gums. Brushing and flossing are not perfect methods in removing debris, particles, and bacteria, because you may miss some spots. If you go to the dentist, he can clean your teeth effectively, reducing the risk of gum problems. Also, a regular visit to a professional ensures that you do not have any oral problems, and even if you do, at least they will be detected and treated immediately before they become big burdens.

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Effects of Alcohol on the Body

Driving while under the influence of alcohol is illegal because of how dangerous it can be. DWI penalties include fines, license suspensions, and jail times, and their severity may depend on a variety of factors, such as the number of times the offense has been committed.

This just proves that those who enforce the law take drunk driving seriously. This is because they clearly know how it can be dangerous, not only for the drunk drivers themselves, but also for the innocent motorists around them.


Alcohol affects you physically, mentally, and emotionally. Physically, it can affect your body coordination. The movement of your eyes, hands, and feet is a significant factor in driving, so failure to coordinate these body parts may result into accidents.

Alcohol also gives you intense feelings of relaxation, which may make you feel fatigued or sleepy. There may be instances where you are already nodding your head and closing your eyes because of these feelings. Worse, you can even fall asleep.


Your mental condition is also important to ensure your safety on the road. A single mental lapse may be enough to get you into an accident. You may not fully understand traffic lights and run through red lights. You may not comprehend warning signs and crash into a construction site ahead.

Alcohol also affects your reaction time. If a pedestrian suddenly crosses the road, you may not be mentally quick enough to judge the situation and react accordingly.


Those who are under the influence of alcohol also have the tendency to be overly emotional. These emotional tendencies can be particularly dangerous when they are already on the wheel because they are a form of distraction. Worse, the driver may even have tears in the eyes, creating possible vision problems.

Those who are drunk also have the tendency to be reckless. They are more likely to speed, tailgate, and weave through traffic.


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Is Sweden’s Vision Zero Achievable on U.S. Roads?









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Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Resulting to Life-threatening Injuries

Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Resulting to Life-threatening Injuries

After her 77-year old grandmother suffered a stroke and developed a pressure sore on her lower back and buttocks during her six weeks stay in hospital, Donna had her transferred into a nursing home, which claimed to have experience and knowledge in treating pressure sores. Her grandmother’s pressure sore (or bed sore) was at Grade 3 stage at the time of the transfer (Grade 1 is the least serious).

Rather than managing the bed sore and giving her grandma the best possible care, the bed sore only worsened, deteriorating to a life threatening Grade 4 wound which became all the more painful. Due to this, Donna’s grandma was rushed back to a hospital. Today, while nearly recovered from the once life-threatening bed sore in a new, but definitely wonderful nursing home, Donna is able to recall how her grandma lived with the pain, discomfort and distress of an entirely avoidable pressure sore for more than a year.

According to the police, not everyone was able to recover as Donna’s grandmother did; one resident died due to complications, while several others continued to suffer from extremely severe pressure sores – all in the same nursing home.

Bedsores resulting to death of residents have become frighteningly common in nursing homes. While neglect is the major cause for the development of this extremely painful wound, especially if it is not treated, or properly treated in time, its victims include hospital patients or nursing home residents who stay seated in wheelchairs for a long time or who stay immobile in their bed without being repositioned, turned, or cared for properly. These potentially life-threatening injuries frequently occur at the hips, lower back, elbow, ankles, and heels – areas where the bone and skin are very close in contact. One government body that sees an alarming increase in nursing home neglect lawsuits related to the development of bedsores are the courts.

West Palm Beach nursing home abuse lawyers of Schuler, Halvorson, Weisser, Zoeller and Overbeck, P.A. know how “moving an aging family member to a nursing home or other assisted living facility can be one of the most difficult decisions that a family makes, and it is usually done with the assumption that their loved one will be provided with the dedicated care and attention that they need and deserve.” Difficulty in making decisions is easily replaced with anger and resentment, though, as soon as family members find out that their loved one has been subjected to abuse, neglect or medical malpractice, which have become all too common and which expose vulnerable individuals to deplorable conditions that can result in serious injuries, illnesses, emotional trauma, and even death.

With the same thought, Chicago bedsores attorneys of Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, say that “Families that entrust the care of their loved ones to a nursing home facility have every reason to believe that they would only be treated with dignity and compassion throughout the duration of their stay.” This is because nursing home staff members know and should know how often residents, especially those with limited mobility, will need assistance shifting in their beds to prevent injuries, such as bed sores, from forming — in fact, residents probably need assistance shifting positions with greater frequency just to be comfortable. In any event, bed sores can be as potentially dangerous as they are thoroughly avoidable. Families that suspect that their loved ones have been abused or neglected at a nursing home can take decisive legal action against the responsible party to pursue compensation for all of their loved ones’ suffering.

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Signs You Need to Get a Divorce

Divorce can be one of the biggest life changers, because it involves separation from your partner, possibly with your kids, and division of liabilities and assets. For this reason, you should not just go around filing for divorce as a threat to your partner or as a reckless reaction to your partner’s imperfections.

Divorce can be very complex, especially when the partners involved have highly skilled professions. This is because of higher salaries and more valuable assets, which can be very difficult to divide.

In other words, you should be very serious if you are going to file for divorce, because the legalities and their complications will take a lot of time and money. If you are experiencing the signs below, you may have a legitimate reason to file for divorce.

You have done everything but the marriage is still not working

You have tried lowering your pride, adjusting to the imperfections of your partner, communicating with your partner more thoroughly, and even seeking the help of marriage counselors. If you have exhausted every option to repair your relationship but it appears that everything is still falling apart, it may be a sign that it is time to let it go.

You are emotionally exhausted

The counseling didn’t work. Arguments are still prevalent. In fact, it seems that the arguments are getting more severe and physical. Everything is just making you emotionally exhausted, and there are instances where divorce is the only way out. Take note that emotional exhaustion happens gradually, until you realize that enough is enough. It should be differentiated from sudden bursts of emotions that may make you do careless behaviors, such as recklessly filing for divorce.

You are staying just for the kids

The relationship has become cold because of various reasons, and it seems that it is not going to change any time soon. Staying just for the benefit of your children is an admirable deed, but you are making yourself vulnerable to emotional exhaustion, which can lead to further problems such as more severe fights and infidelity.

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