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3rd DCA ROUNDUP-JUSTICE IS CRUMBLING EDITION

By "Captain Liberty" and "Rumpole"

****see below****Wednesday is Funday at the Third DCA.Depraved Mind? Yup. Senior and former Chief Judge Schwartz may not necessarily know how to specifically define a "depraved mind", but like Potter Stewart ala pornography, he knows it when he sees it, and he minces no words in describing it in Bonilla v. State: Rejecting the appellant?s primary position on appeal, we conclude ? notwithstanding the very sketchy nature of the record as to the surrounding circumstances ? that the singular fact that the defendant drove a butcher knife five and three-quarter inches into the victim?s chest, reaching his heart and causing his death, was itself sufficient to establish the ?depraved mind? element of second degree murder, of which Bonilla was convicted after a jury trial...continue to full post

Full post as published by Justice Building Blog on September 23, 2009 (boomark / email).