Yikes.
What does someone need to do to get charged with first-degree murder in New York City?
An admission like the one he put in the nitebook seems sufficient!
Surely the charges will be upgraded.
Somebody pointed out earlier there isn't much difference between 1st and 2nd degree murder in NY except for length of the sentence. 1st degree murder would be for killing a government official, witness, and etc..
In New York, first-degree murder requires one of a host of aggravating
circumstances. Those include killing someone who works in law enforcement,
killing a witness, killing for hire, killing while serving a long sentence and
killings involving torture. Both crimes are punishable by up to life in prison,
but first-degree murder has a longer minimum — 20 years, rather than 15.