HOEHN, J. Defendant, Steven Paul Campbell, was charged with open murder ... in connection with the suicide death of Kevin Patrick Basnaw. . . . Defendant moved to quash the information and dismiss the defendant on the ground that providing a weapon to a person, who subsequently uses it to commit suicide, does not constitute the crime of murder. . . .

The concise statement of facts is as follows.

On October 4, 1980, Kevin Patrick Basnaw committed suicide. On the night in question, Steven Paul Campbell went to the home of the deceased. They were drinking quite heavily. The testimony indicates that late in the evening the deceased began talking about committing suicide. . . .

About two weeks before, the defendant, Steven Paul Campbell, caught the deceased in bed with defendant's wife, Jill Campbell. Some time during the talk of suicide, Kevin said he did not have a gun. At first the defendant, Steven Paul Campbell, indicated Kevin couldn't borrow or buy one of his guns. Then he changed his mind and told him he would sell him a gun, for whatever amount of money he had in his possession. Then the deceased, Kevin Basnaw, indicated he did not want to buy a gun, but Steve Campbell continued to encourage Kevin to purchase a gun, and alternately ridiculed him.

The defendant and the deceased then drove to the defendant's parent's home to get the weapon, leaving Kimberly Cleland, the deceased's girlfriend, alone. . . .

The defendant and the deceased returned in about 15 minutes with the gun and five shells. The deceased told his girlfriend to leave with the defendant because he was going to kill himself. He put the shells and the gun on the kitchen table and started to write a suicide note.

The defendant and the deceased's girlfriend left about 3 to 3:30 a.m. When they left, the shells were still on the table.

Steven, out of Kevin's presence and hearing, told Kimberly not to worry, that the bullets were merely blanks and that he wouldn't give Kevin real bullets. Kimberly and Steven prepared to leave. . . .

Next morning, one Billy Sherman arrived at about 11:30 a.m. and he and the deceased's roommate found the deceased slumped at the kitchen table with the gun in his hand. Dr. Kopp, the county pathologist, listed the cause of death as suicide; self-inflicted wound to the temple...

The prosecutor and the trial court relied on People v Roberts . . . to justify trying defendant for open murder. In that case, Mr. Roberts' wife had terminal multiple sclerosis. She was in great pain. In the past, she had unsuccessfully attempted suicide by ingesting carbolic acid. At his wife's request, Mr. Roberts made a potion of water and poison and placed it within her reach. Defendant Roberts was convicted of murder in the first degree. . . .

We now consider whether the Roberts case still represents the law of Michigan, and we find that it does not. . . .

The prosecutor argues that inciting to suicide, coupled with the overt act of furnishing a gun to an intoxicated person in a state of depression, falls within the prohibition "or other wilful, deliberate and premeditated killing".

There exists no statutory definition of the term "murder". That crime is defined in the common law.

"Homicide is the killing of one human being by another. . . . 'homicide' is not a crime. In this state, it is 'murder' and 'manslaughter' that are crimes." People v Allen. . . . The term suicide excludes by definition a homicide. Simply put, the defendant here did not kill another person.

A second ground militates against requiring the defendant to stand trial for murder. "Courts might well emphasize that juries can convict of murder only when they are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that (1) the defendant intended . . . to kill. . . ." People v Morrin. . . .

Defendant had no present intention to kill. He provided the weapon and departed. Defendant hoped Basnaw would kill himself but hope alone is not the degree of intention requisite to a charge of murder.

...It is noted that in none of the cases decided since 1920 has a defendant, guilty of incitement to suicide, been found guilty of murder. Instead, they have been found guilty of crimes ranging from the equivalent of negligent homicide to voluntary manslaughter. . . .

Incitement to suicide has not been held to be a crime in two-thirds of the states of the United States. In the states where incitement to suicide has been held to be a crime, there has been no unanimity as to the nature or severity of the crime. . . .

No Legislature has classified such conduct as murder, [and] whether incitement to suicide is a crime under the common law is extremely doubtful. . . .

While we find the conduct of the defendant morally reprehensible, we do not find it to be criminal under the present state of the law.

The trial court is reversed and the case is remanded with instructions to quash the information and warrant and discharge the defendant.