Johnny Cade Murder Essay

Johnny Cade has killed Bob Sheldon and is now on trial for his murder. However, questions have risen regarding to what degree are Johnny’s actions justifiable? Should the defendant be accused of first degree murder, second degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, or is he simply not guilty? I believe that Johnny Cade is guilty of second degree murder. We have enough evidence to confirm that Johnny is the one who killed Bob Sheldon, so we know for a fact that he is guilty to some degree. For example, on page 56, Johnny says to Pony, “I killed him.”...”I killed that boy”. In addition, Johnny heads back to town to turn himself in after hiding out in Windrixville for about a week. This action of his also supports the reasoning behind ruling out not guilty as a viable option for his punishment. Furthermore, the definition of first degree murder involves premeditation, deliberate planning, and malice. However, there is no evidence supporting that Johnny Cade made use of any of the previously mentioned elements of murder before killing Bob Sheldon. Johnny acted strictly
This may have been true if Bob was the one drowning Pony. It is not stated in the text what Bob was doing while Pony was being drowned, but we know that he wasn’t the one potentially becoming a murderer. For this reason, I don’t believe that killing Bob was an act of involuntary manslaughter. In conclusion, second degree murder is classified as killing another with malice, but without premonition or deliberate planning. In other words, it involves killing someone intentionally and spontaneously; the killer didn’t plan it out in the past. It is true that Johnny hadn’t planned the killing of Bob Sheldon. In contrast, we know that Bob wasn’t the one about to kill Pony. Therefore, I believe that the murder of Bob may have been intentional, given the past history between these two