It's only murder because the law SAYS it's murder. And that changes from place to place. Something that would get you convicted in California (say, killing someone in self-defense) would get you off scott-free in Texas.
Because of that, it gets tricky with Federal stuff, because 1) people are usually applying state laws to the Govt, and 2) as the Govt MAKES the laws, they can exempt themselves from it, or at least keep it tied up in the courts for so long as to become worthless. That also sets dangerous precidents for future cases of the same.
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