California Penal Code

§ 189

PEN § 189 Effective Jan 1, 2020Title 8 · Part 1 · Ch. 1

Statute text

(a)All murder that is perpetrated by means of a destructive device or explosive, a weapon of mass destruction, knowing use of ammunition designed primarily to penetrate metal or armor, poison, lying in wait, torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or that is committed in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate, arson, rape, carjacking, robbery, burglary, mayhem, kidnapping, train wrecking, or any act punishable under Section 206, 286, 287, 288, or 289, or former Section 288a, or murder that is perpetrated by means of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle, intentionally at another person outside of the vehicle with the intent to inflict death, is murder of the first degree.

(b)All other kinds of murders are of the second degree.

(c)As used in this section, the following definitions apply:

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Legislative history

Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 497, Sec. 192. (AB 991) Effective January 1, 2020. Note: This section was amended on June 5, 1990, by initiative Prop. 115.