Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/51/1111
Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice. http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/51/1112
The murder charge was not supported by the evidence. A manslaughter charge would be plausible.
I’m not saying the man is without any fault, I take issue with the article’s “shooting an unarmed black man” which implies an innocent black man was killed by a cop because he was black. All day reports have been “a white police officer who shot an unarmed black man”, these yellow journalists are sick bastards. At least this report didn’t mention the cop being “white”.
From your link-
“Any other murder is murder in the second degree.”
Second degree murder does not require premeditation.
First degree murder involves premeditation. Second degree murder is done “in the heat of passion”. The officer appears to have killed the man in anger, while the guy was running away. That makes it second degree.