She submitted it with an application for a warrant to search for items “necessary in order to prove the crime of second-degree murder.” Louisiana’s legal definition of second-degree murder included murder with the specific intent to kill. Everyone seemed to agree, in light of the circumstances of Katrina, that they weren’t going to seek the death penalty and thus there was no need to charge first-degree murder. Lesser charges of manslaughter or negligent homicide could always be brought.
