The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 6: Mens Rea
Page 15: Knowledge
Okay, so what about Mister Depression over here? What makes him any different from Clyde?
Romeo looking out his window
Romeo knew more than Clyde did. Clyde merely knew that there was a risk. But Romeo knew that it almost certainly WOULD happen.
He wasn’t trying to kill Juliet on purpose, but he killed her KNOWINGLY.
And for that, he’s probably looking at second-degree murder charges.
Sentencing, on the other hand, could conceivably go the other way. We have better tools for management and treatment of severe depression than reckless desire to see a ballgame.
And you would have to prove that he knew that there was a vulnerable person up there and that he understood that the gas would seep into the upstairs apartment.
That got covered on the page establishing his actions. It explicitly said he knew the fumes would probably asphyxiate his upstairs neighbor, but didn’t care. The fact that the upstairs neighbor was a child just made them more innocent.