1.With treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of armed men, or employing means to weaken the defense or of means or persons to insure or afford impunity.
2. In consideration of a price, reward, or promise.
3. By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, shipwreck, stranding of a vessel, derailment or assault upon a street car or locomotive, fall of an airship, by means of motor vehicles, or with the use of any other means involving great waste and ruin.
4. On occasion of any of the calamities enumerated in the preceding paragraph, or of an earthquake, eruption of a volcano, destructive cyclone, epidemic or other public calamity.
5. With evident premeditation.
6. With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the suffering of the victim, or outraging or scoffing at his person or corpse.
It seems simple enough but the interpretation of facts as to whether they qualify the felony to murder is subject to debates which can determine whether a person would be granted bail or not, freed or sent to prison, and if sent to prison, for how long. As the facts of a criminal case can be subject to different interpretations, case law becomes important as they provide insights as to how the Supreme Court interpreted certain facts with regard to particular cases.
An illustration of No. 2:
If A paid B to kill C, and B killed C, A is guilty of murder.
If B killed C because of the money paid by A, B is guilty of murder.
If B killed C because he had a grudge against C and it just so happened that A also wanted B killed and gave him money, B is guilty only of homicide. However, B can still be guilty of murder if the other circumstances mentioned above are present.
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