'Voluntary manslaughter (also referred to as third-degree murder), sometimes called a crime of passion murder, is any intentional killing that involved no prior intent to kill, and which was committed under such circumstances that would "cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed". Both this and second-degree murder are committed on the spot, but the two differ in the magnitude of the circumstances surrounding the crime. For example, a bar fight that results in death would ordinarily constitute second-degree murder. If that same bar fight stemmed from a discovery of infidelity, however, it may be mitigated to voluntary manslaughter.[8]'
So Nicodemo has plead guilty to effectively a crime of passion. What a joke.
Throw the book at him.
Let's not pull the legal info off of wikipedia, but check out what Pennsylvania means when THEY say Murder 3rd.
18 Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Annotated (C.S.A.) § 2502§ 2502. Murder (a) Murder of the first degree.--A criminal homicide constitutes murder of the first degree when it is committed by an intentional killing. (b) Murder of the second degree.--A criminal homicide constitutes murder of the second degree when it is committed while defendant was engaged as a principal or an accomplice in the perpetration of a felony. (c) Murder of the third degree.--All other kinds of murder shall be murder of the third degree. Murder of the third degree is a felony of the first degree.
18 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 2502 (West)
Whether or not it looks like a mafia hit or not, all the evidence the prosecutors have is that a murder took place. There is no planning evidence, at least not enough to sufficiently charge AN with Murder 1. So you go to Murder 2, in PA Murder 2 is just "Felony Murder" (a specific classification of murders. These are murders that were committed as a byproduct of a crime. If we robbed a liquor store and you shot a guy in the process of our felony, we both could get charged with Felony Murder (here, Murder 2). So, while a prosecutor could make a weak case that in the process of his "mafia duties", AN whacked the guy out… therefore Felony Murder Rule applies. But that would be weak. So, lets go to Murder 3. Here in Pennsylvania, that is "all other levels of homicide". So he has NOT been charged with a "voluntary manslaughter" or any kind of depraved heart murder. It's simply their version of what the Model Penal Code calls (and we know colloquially as) "Murder 2".
