Does a defendant have to have a specific intent to kill to be considered a first degree murder?

[52 Cal.App.3d 84] In People v. Dickerson, 23 Cal.App.3d 721, 727, 100 Cal.Rptr. 533, the defendant argued that a specific intent to kill must be independently shown for murder by lying in wait to be first degree murder. He urged that a distinction be drawn between murder by poison and torture, specified in Penal Code section 189, because the use of poison or torture in itself is extremely likely to produce death, while lying in wait is not, unless accompanied by an intent to kill. The court disagreed, stating: