felony murder rule

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felony murder rule

A legal doctrine in some (English) common law jurisdictions that broadens the legal ramifications of murder to include:
(1) when an offender kills accidentally or without specific intent to kill in the course of an applicable felony, manslaughter is escalated to murder; and
(2) it makes any participant in the felony criminally liable for any deaths that occur during or in furtherance of that felony.

References in periodicals archive ?

The Supreme Court previously considered the felony murder doctrine

Felony murder, juveniles, and culpability: why the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment should preclude sentencing juveniles who do not kill, intend to kill, or attempt to kill to die in prison

2010); see also Kealy, supra note 10, at 237 (discussing felony murder theory in Massachusetts).

The limits of "extraordinary power": a survey of first-degree murder appeals under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 278, Section 33E

To that end, this Part considers the much-debated laws involving felony murder and the divergence between attempts and completed crimes.

A distributive theory of criminal law

Trace Hanse ("Appellant") was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City of six charges, including first-degree felony murder and first-degree burglary, stemming from a home invasion during which Sierra Burley and her roommate, Marvin Jeffers, were shot in the head and body.

TRACE HANSE v. STATE OF MARYLAND

(84) The Court did not explicitly create a categorical rule with respect to death sentences for felony murder convictions.

EVOLVED STANDARDS, EVOLVING JUSTICES? THE CASE FOR A BROADER APPLICATION OF THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT

In order to convict the defendant of First Degree Felony Murder, it is not necessary for the State to prove that the defendant had a premeditated design or intent to kill.

Amendments to criminal jury instructions

The felony murder charge includes a sentence enhancement for using a knife.

Report Claims US Jewish Student's Murderer An 'Avowed Nazi'

As an accomplice, he was sentenced under Texas' felony murder statute, commonly known as the law of parties, which holds that anyone involved in a crime resulting in death is equally responsible, even if they weren't directly involved in the killing.

Texas district attorney who prosecuted Jeff Wood now wants him off death row

Authorities did arrest Mitchell, whom they charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, false imprisonment, cruelty to children, and felony murder for the death of Funches.

Mother defends children from gang

After a nine-day deliberation, a jury has found Pedro Hernandez guilty of felony murder and kidnapping in the death of 6-year-old Etan Patz, who disappeared in 1979 while walking to a bus stop near his home in SoHo, Manhattan.

Pedro Hernandez Has Been Found Guilty in the 1979 Kidnapping and Murdering of 6-year-old Etan Patz

This disconnect results from an overly mechanical interpretation of the Supreme Court's two key cases applying the Eighth Amendment to the felony murder context: Enmund v.

Capital punishment of unintentional felony murder

'I'm just in shock.' Frances insisted it was an accident, but she was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault for her actions against Bonnie.

A husband killed in a motorbike crash - but was it an accident or murder? Scorned wife Frances Hall was devastated when she discovered her husband had cheated on her again