Patricide is the murder of one’s father, requiring proof of intent, death, and victim identity. Insanity and self-defense can be legal defenses. Malice and premeditation are key factors in proving the crime. Justifiable homicide may apply in cases of self-defense.
Parricide is the unlawful killing of one’s father, and the crime is murder. It should not be confused with homicide, which may be non-criminal or carry a lesser penalty if the accused is convicted. The opposite crime in many jurisdictions is matricide, which is the killing of one’s mother. To prove patricide, the prosecutor must prove the elements of patricide, which are intent, the death of the victim, and the fact that the victim was the defendant’s father. Legal defenses such as insanity and self-defense are often raised by defendants on trial.
Killing the father without malice is not patricide, but manslaughter. Malice in patricide is the defendant’s desire to cause the father’s death without justification. The defendant was shown to have wanton contempt for his father’s life and had evil motives which led to the murder of the defendant’s father. Premeditation is often the standard used to prove the crime, and the prosecution must show that the defendant deliberated before committing murder. Once malice is proven, the prosecution must prove that the death occurred and that the person killed was the defendant’s father.
Insanity is a legal defense available to defendants in some jurisdictions in cases of murder, and patricide is no exception. The defendant must prove that he was mentally ill before and at the time of the murder, which prevented him from passing the right judgment. If a court rules that the defendant is insane, then it can order the defendant to a mental institution for treatment. The defendant is often released only when mental health professionals can demonstrate that the defendant poses no threat to the community. Jurisdictions often do not sentence defendants to prison if they can successfully plead the insanity defense.
A defendant acting in self-defense is often not guilty of patricide. For example, if a minor son can prove that his father kidnapped him and tried to kill him with a weapon, which resulted in the son obtaining the weapon and killing the father, then most jurisdictions would deem that justifiable homicide. The child would not be guilty of patricide, even if he killed his father. On the other hand, if the child ran away and returned the next day to kill his father, self-defense is no longer applicable. Premeditation could easily be demonstrated and the child would most likely be convicted of killing her father.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
