Bullock v. United States

EDGERTON, Associate Justice.

This appeal is from a conviction of murder in the first degree. The trial-' judge instructed the jury that, though “deliberate and premeditated malice” 1 involves turning over in the mind an intention to kill, “it does not take any appreciable length of time to turn a thought of that kind over in your mind.” In 1931, this court said as much. 2 But in 1937 we approved the opposite rule, that “some appreciable time must elapse.” 3 We adhere to the latter rule. To speak of premeditation and deliberation which are instantaneous, or which take no appreciable time, is a…