Also known as: felonious homicides · felony murder
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A category of homicide consisting of unlawful killings committed without legal justification or excuse. This category includes both murder and manslaughter at common law.
Felicity French and Floyd Franklin entered a hospital storage room after hours to steal diagnostic devices. Felicity injected an elderly patient with an unauthorized sedative to clear their path, causing respiratory arrest and death. The killing occurred during the felony and supplied implied malice, making it felonious homicide.
Farah Fox, a bus driver, angrily slammed the brakes and jerked the bus forward in violation of a traffic ordinance. A standing passenger fell, struck his head, and died. The death resulted from the unlawful act without qualifying as felony murder, constituting felonious homicide.
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Francesca Fowler committed a securities-law felony by holding unauthorized sales sessions. During a confrontation about the activity, she shoved a colleague into a glass partition that shattered, causing fatal lacerations. The death was a foreseeable consequence of the felony, rendering it felonious homicide.
Flora Ford stabbed a coworker after an immediate shove during an argument. The prosecution proved an unlawful killing but the defense showed adequate provocation and no cooling-off period. The result was felonious homicide reduced from murder to manslaughter.
Felicia Fuentes killed during a sudden confrontation. The state treated the killing as felonious homicide and required her to prove heat of passion to reduce the degree. The allocation of the burden on the defendant was upheld as consistent with the single generic offense structure.
Fidelity Trust's employee committed a killing during a felony. The resulting felonious homicide conviction led to a life sentence without parole. The sentence was reviewed for gross disproportionality under the Eighth Amendment given the circumstances of the offense.
Felonious homicide covers unlawful killings without legal justification or excuse and includes murder and manslaughter. Justifiable homicide arises from lawful acts such as self-defense or official duty and carries no criminal liability.
Supporting sources
At common law, felonious homicide encompasses any unlawful killing. It is subdivided into murder when malice aforethought is present and manslaughter when the killing is unlawful but lacks malice.
Yes. When a death occurs during a felony that does not support felony murder, the killing is at least involuntary manslaughter if the death is a foreseeable consequence of the felony.
No. Felonious homicide is the broad category of unlawful killings. Malice aforethought is required only for the murder subdivision. Manslaughter within the category lacks malice.
Supporting sources
…followed, was affirmed. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court held that murder and manslaughter were varying degrees of the crime of felonious homicide and that the presumption of malice arising from the unlawful killing was a mere policy presumption operating to cast on the defendant the burden of proving provocation if he was to be found…