Reference no: EM132281530

For the question below, choose the multiple-choice response which most accurately reflects the law. Then please write a brief response explaining why you selected the response you did.

A stagehand decided to play a practical joke on an actor. The stagehand went to the storage room where stage props were stored and took what he believed to be a stage gun from the locker where such guns were kept. In fact, a week before, an actress had put her real pistol in the stage gun locker and borrowed the stage gun for an amateur theatrical her church group was putting on.

The actress had forgotten to remove the bullets that her husband always kept in the gun. The stagehand went into the actor's dressing room and yelled, "You've stolen the part that I always wanted to play, now die for it!" The actor knew that the stagehand liked to play practical jokes, and, after an initial frightened reaction, the actor broke out laughing. The stagehand laughed too, shouted, "Bang, you're dead!" and pulled the trigger. A bullet hit the actor in the heart, killing him.

Which of the following best describes the stagehand's criminal liability?

(A) He is guilty of second-degree murder.

(B) He is guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

(C) He is guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

(D) He has committed no crime.