Ramsey v. State

— Ramsey was charged with the offense of murder in the second degree, one element of which offense is the evincing of a depraved mind in the act of killing the deceased. Depravity of mind is an inherent deficiency of moral sense and rectitude. See Knepper v. Knepper, 139 Mo. App. 493, 122 S. W. Rep. 1117.

It is the equivalent of the statutory phrase “depravity of heart” which has been' defined to he the highest grade of malice. See Lang v. State, 84 Ala. 1, 4 South. Rep. 193, 5 Am. St. Rep. 324.

The legal and technical sense of the word “malice” differs from its sense in ordinary or common…