Jury Service - Do it, or else!

[Jentleness]

We weren't actually deciding whether or not he was guilty, but rather determining his degree of guilt.

That... makes no sense to me. Didn't the jury have the option to find him not guilty on all charges? The manslaughter charge was just a lesser-included offense (meaning that every element of manslaughter is also in murder, though not vice-versa, and he could only be found guilty of one).

I would've been skeptical that a stoned eighteen-year-old could form the requisite intent and premeditation typically required in state laws for first degree murder. However, voluntary intoxication generally is no defense to murder, so second degree murder might have been more fair. It should be noted that I have no idea about the specifics of the case.

He admitted he killed the boy, but he was trying to say the drugs made him do it which, like you said, is no defense to murder. As for the details, he went out of his way to kill this boy, who was watching cartoons in a room by himself and he searched him out and killed him in a horrible way. It was very, very sad.