That seemed to carry the message that pride would not stop him from fighting the charges of premeditated killing.

The law, passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, authorizes the death penalty for premeditated killings committed in an act of terrorism.

A further year passed, and three sorts of homicide were identified for different treatment, with a fixed tariff only for the most serious premeditated killings.

But be aware, if that happens the call to reintroduce hanging for premeditated killing will actually grow, not disappear, even with longer sentences being set.

He felt sick at the brutality of the premeditated killing.

One makes the willful, deliberate and premeditated killing of more than one person in a three-year period a capital offense.

Targeted killing is the premeditated killing of an individual, by a state, organization or institution, outside a battlefield.

"To the jury, he engaged in certain actions that were reckless, but it wasn't a premeditated killing."

When the state undertakes its premeditated killing in the name of its citizens, it defies God and defiles life itself.

The other side of such an argument is likely to use a different stipulative definition for the same term: "the premeditated killing of a human being."