Darryl Anderson was drunk behind the wheel of his Audi SUV, had his accelerator pressed to the floor and was barreling toward a car ahead of him when he snapped a photo of his speedometer. The picture showed a car in the foreground, a collision warning light on his dashboard and a speed of 141 mph (227 kph).
An instant later, he slammed into the car in the photo. The driver, Shalorna Warner, was not seriously injured but her 8-month-old son and her sister were killed instantly, authorities said. Evidence showed Anderson never braked.
Anderson, 38, was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years in prison for the May 31 crash in northern England that killed little Zackary Blades and Karlene Warner. Anderson pleaded guilty last week in Durham Crown Court to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
Dolus eventualis aka Eventualvorsatz, which can indeed be summed up as “willingly hazarding the consequences”. AFAIU in English that’s not a type of intent but recklessness. It certainly is not intent to kill someone, just intent to not give a fuck whether someone dies, there’s a difference there.
Trying to sum up the stuff that distinguishes Totschlag from Mord with “malice” is also rather… vague. The key factor in this case (or at least the aspect that’s easiest to establish) is killing by using means that are a danger to public safety, to wit, a car going 226km/h. Certainly doesn’t fit the dictionary definition of “malice”.
That’s why it’s not murder in this case.
Murder would be if I kill you for your car, as an example. Or a child killing his parents for faster inheritance. In Germany, we’d call these “niederer Beweggrund”, so … “Greed-based motive”? Idk how to properly translate it.
In this case, its definitely no murder tho because neither of the three characteristics for murder are given.
“niederer Beweggrund” would be “base motive”, Habgier is greed. And they’re only one possible way to qualify murder. As I emphasised there, using means that are a danger to public safety is another.