Mo. Rev. Stat. » Chapter 565
Missouri Revised Statutes

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 565.021 (2026)

Second degree murder, penalty

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MO-REVrevisor.mo.gov Justiaon Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

  565.021.  Second degree murder, penalty. — 1.  A person commits the offense of murder in the second degree if he or she:

  (1)  Knowingly causes the death of another person or, with the purpose of causing serious physical injury to another person, causes the death of another person; or

  (2)  Commits or attempts to commit any felony, and, in the perpetration or the attempted perpetration of such felony or in the flight from the perpetration or attempted perpetration of such felony, another person is killed as a result of the perpetration or attempted perpetration of such felony or immediate flight from the perpetration of such felony or attempted perpetration of such felony.

  2.  The offense of murder in the second degree is a class A felony, and the punishment for second degree murder shall be in addition to the punishment for commission of a related felony or attempted felony, other than murder or manslaughter.

  3.  Notwithstanding section 556.046 and section 565.029, in any charge of murder in the second degree, the jury shall be instructed on, or, in a jury-waived trial, the judge shall consider, any and all of the subdivisions in subsection 1 of this section which are supported by the evidence and requested by one of the parties or the court.

­­--------

(L. 1983 S.B. 276, A.L. 1984 S.B. 448 § A, A.L. 2014 S.B. 491)

Effective 1-01-17

CROSS REFERENCE:

No bail, certain defendants, certain offenses, 544.671

(1990) Reduction in sentence was available to defendant when statute which limited maximum term of imprisonment became effective before state brought charges but after crime was committed. (Mo.App.) Searcy v. State, 784 S.W.2d 911.

(1998) Defendant may be charged under the felony murder statute instead of involuntary manslaughter at the prosecutor's discretion when both apply.  State v. Pembleton, 978 S.W.2d 352 (E.D.Mo.).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 657 cases (48 in the last 5 years), 1980–2025 · leading case: State v. Clay, 533 S.W.3d 710 (Mo. 2017).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
State v. Clay, 533 S.W.3d 710 (Mo. 2017). · cites it 3× “Patricia Breckenridge, Judge Larry Clay appeals from a judgment convicting him of murder in the second degree, section 565.021, RSMo 2000, and armed criminal action, section 571.”
State of Missouri v. Daniel D. Hartman, 488 S.W.3d 53 (Mo. 2016). · cites it 6× “The trial court sentenced Hartman to concurrent terms of life imprisonment for second-degree murder, life imprisonment for armed criminal action, and fifteen years’ imprisonment for first-degree burglary.”
State v. Williams, 24 S.W.3d 101 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000). · cites it 8× “, appeals the circuit court’s judgment of his jury convictions for felony murder in the second degree, § 565.021; 1 endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree, § 568.”
State v. Osborn, 318 S.W.3d 703 (Mo. Ct. App. 2010). · cites it 12× “151, [2] and two counts of felony murder in the second degree, pursuant to section 565.021. [3] Defendant claims that he was erroneously denied his right to self-representation and that the trial court erred in overruling his motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of all…”
State v. Harding, 528 S.W.3d 362 (Mo. Ct. App. 2017). · cites it 5× “Compare Section 565.021, RSMo Cum. Sup. 2014 (prescribing “any felony”) with Sections 559.”
State v. Black, 50 S.W.3d 778 (Mo. 2001). · cites it 4× “Also last year, according to Justice O'Connor, six inmates with death sentences were exonerated and released after review, bringing the total of such exonerations to 90 since 1973.”
Zink v. State, 278 S.W.3d 170 (Mo. 2009). · cites it 2× “[c]auses the death of another person under circumstances that would constitute murder in the second degree under subdivision (1) of subsection 1 of section 565.021, except that he caused the death under the influence of sudden passion arising from adequate cause.”
State v. Forrest, 183 S.W.3d 218 (Mo. 2006). · cites it 2× “Regarding Appellant’s constitutional claim of vagueness that section 565.021 does not adequately distinguish first from second-degree murder, this Court has rejected this claim numerous times before.”
State v. Gheen, 41 S.W.3d 598 (Mo. Ct. App. 2001). · cites it 5× “06 MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE: FELONY The (Grand Jurors) (Circuit Attorney) (Prosecuting Attorney) of the (City) (County) of_, State of Missouri, charge(s) that the defendant, in violation of Section 565.021, RSMo, committed the class A felony of murder in the second degree,…”
State v. Lytle, 715 S.W.2d 910 (Mo. 1986). · cites it 4× “But I am persuaded that the evidence supports the trial judge's denial of the motion to suppress, and so concur in the order of retransfer.”
State v. Hendren, 524 S.W.3d 76 (Mo. Ct. App. 2017). · cites it 5× “Section 565.021 defines the offense of second-degree murder, ■ including both “conventional” and “felony” second-degree murder.”
State v. Brown, 337 S.W.3d 12 (Mo. 2011). · cites it 4× “During closing arguments, the trial court permitted the State to use a gun as a demonstrative exhibit to rebut Brown's self-defense argument.”
Show all 657 citing cases →
— Mo. Rev. Stat. § 565.021(1) — 8 cases
Jones v. State, 514 S.W.3d 72 (Mo. Ct. App. 2017).
State of Missouri v. Ramon D. Demery, 568 S.W.3d 552 (Mo. Ct. App. 2019).
State v. Robinson, 196 S.W.3d 567 (Mo. Ct. App. 2006).
State v. Albanese, 920 S.W.2d 917 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996).
State v. Fouts, 939 S.W.2d 506 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
— Mo. Rev. Stat. § 565.021(2) — 7 cases
Johnson v. State, 552 S.W.3d 768 (Mo. Ct. App. 2018).
State v. Fuelling, 145 S.W.3d 464 (Mo. Ct. App. 2004).
State v. Westrich, 800 S.W.2d 78 (Mo. Ct. App. 1990).
State v. Starr, 998 S.W.2d 61 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).
State of Missouri, Plaintiff-respondent v. Martin Dean Priest (Mo. Ct. App. 2019).
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.