[Sam Cree]

"There is a possible 3rd category requiring extensive imprisonment where it is a combination of unintentional and woefully negligent."

That is what I am asking you to define a little more closely, if you will.

Would you require the death penalty for all murders that were intentional, whether crime of passion or premeditated for personal gain, etc.?

[xzins]

I always thought that crimes of "passion" were given lesser sentences because they were arguably "intentional."

Premeditated for personal gain murders seem to come into the category of intentional and, as such, would be eligible for the death penalty. Intentionally murder for personal gain would fall under the category of malicious. (Mal intent.)

Certainty then would apply to:

1) Guilt for the murder itself. You'd have to be certain.
2) Guilt for intention. You'd have to be certain it was intentional.
3) Guilt for malicious intent. You'd have to be certain the murderer did so for personal gain.

A person who is found certainly guilty of the murder, but who can sucessfully fend off accusations of intentionality and of commission of crime for personal gain, would have a sentence lesser than capital punishment.

This is getting pretty deeply into categories that have probably been well thought out through the years by those in the legal profession.

We'll just use their categories.

The only thing we'll change is the stand of "guilty within a reasonable doubt" when it comes to a capital crime. We'll replace it with a standard of "unimpeachable certainty."