First or second degree murder?

The law is pretty clear on what the difference is between first and second-degree murder. Well, clear to legal scholars, anyway. But even then, how that law is interpreted and applied to a set of facts is quite a subjective process. Getting 12 jurors to agree during that process can often be the backbone of a murder trial.

In closing arguments Tuesday in the capital murder trial for Miguel Magallon, Deputy District Attorney Darren Levine gave one of the clearest analogies I've ever heard in explaining the difference. Everyday, he said, when he leaves his office at the Civic Center, he must decide whether to walk a half-block up to the crosswalk, then a half-block back ... or merely hustle across several lanes of traffic. Complicating the decision is that police cars often park at a nearby Metro station.

Levine said when he pauses, looks toward the police cars to see if any cops are around, then proceeds across - he is guilty of first-degree jaywalking. It was willful, deliberate and premeditated. But when he simply just heads across without a thought to the consequences - even for a brief millisecond - that is second-degree jaywalking.

While Magallon's defense attorney, Victor Salerno, said the slaying of Los Angeles Police Capt. Michael Sparkes on Aug. 10, 2004, was a "classic case" of second-degree murder, Levine used the same term to argue that the deadly confrontation on the street near Carson was first-degree murder. In the end, it's up to the jury.