Chapter 9 – Criminal Homicide

Crime Scene – openclipart (2017)

We have repeatedly held that premeditated murder is among the most serious conduct within Alaska’s definition of first-degree murder—and that, in first-degree murder cases, a defendant’s premeditation, standing alone, will support a sentence of 99 years’ imprisonment. Moreover, even in cases of second-degree murder (i.e., cases in which the killing was unintended), we have repeatedly upheld sentences in the upper end of the penalty range for defendants who committed gratuitous or otherwise inexplicable acts of extreme violence.

Hamilton v. State, 59 P.3d 760, 772 (Alaska App. 2002)