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[QUOTE="leftytg, post: 1757453, member: 2651"]
Get out now, while you still can!

Regarding your question, to get an attempted murder conviction, you have to prove that Howard intended to actually kill the victims (or act with depraved indifference to human life), and not merely stab, harm, teach a lesson to, whatever.  That is hard to prove in a case like this in the absence of some kind of confession given that, if I'm remembering correctly, Howard used a pocket knife.  That isn't to say a pocket knife isn't capable of killing someone (it certainly is), but as it goes to state of mind, it points more toward Howard going there to threaten/stab/hurt but not necessarily kill.  Or, more accurately, Howard could claim he wasn't going there to kill and the State wouldn't have anything (based on known facts, I'm not privy to the case file obviously) to rebut that, and certainly not beyond a reasonable doubt.  Had Howard shown up with a gun, shot the victim 4 times, but hit only nonvital areas, it would be a lot harder for Howard to claim he wasn't trying to kill, he was just using expertly placed gunshots to inflict pain.  (do you see what I'm getting at?)

Now, had Howard gone there intending to stab someone and the victim died, it could be charged as murder (regardless of whether or not he intended to kill) based on the felony murder doctrine (you'll get to this in Crim Law, but essentially, if you are committing a felony, and in the course of doing so somebody is killed, regardless of whether or not you intended it, you are on the hook for murder).

***edited, as I inexplicably mixed up the names of the victim and perp
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