Mary Maloney, a responsible and loving housewife, had just heard that her husband wants to leave her. Upon hearing this news, she goes to the kitchen to cook him dinner even though Patrick, her husband, says not to. Mary grabs a lamb’s leg to cook, but instead of preparing it she decides to use it as a club against Patrick’s head. This blow to the head kills Mary’s would-be ex-husband, leaving her with an entirely new problem. Law enforcement must decide what degree this specific murder is. Voluntary manslaughter, or second degree murder, is I believe most accurately describes Mary’s crime. In the heat of the moment, Mary seemed to go temporarily insane. After all, the person she loved the most has admitted he would want to leave her. It is stated in the story that she doesn’t feel anything after hearing Patrick’s secret. She is …show more content…
One may assume that she was not responsible for her actions. However, she did consciously try to cover up the murder, knowing that she would be blamed for it. She made the excuse that she went to the grocery for vegetables and found him dead when she came back. If she had confessed to being temporarily insane, she could’ve gotten away with her actions unharmed and unaccountable. She did try to hide it by calling the police in a sort of intense sadness, though. Mary is guilty of it because of trying to keep the blame from her. One may assume that Mary’s murder was involuntary manslaughter. The legal dictionary describes involuntary manslaughter as unlawful killing without intent which can be matched to this murder. However, Mary’s murder was from the heat of the moment. This dictionary says that involuntary manslaughter as something that has nothing to do with the certain moment it is in. The legal dictionary also describes this type of manslaughter as a lack of skill or care which is irrelevant to her situation since the murder was related to the passion of the