Also known as: felony murder rule · felony-murder rule · felony-murder rules · felony murder doctrine
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A doctrine providing that a killing committed during the perpetration of a felony constitutes murder even without a specific intent to kill. The intent to commit the underlying felony supplies the implied malice required for murder liability.
Fatima Flores directed workers at her cleanup company to bypass security and dump hazardous waste into a waterway at night. A homeless man sleeping nearby inhaled the fumes and died from toxic exposure. The death occurred during the ongoing felony operation. The felony intent converts the resulting homicide into murder rather than manslaughter.
Frederick Ferguson and a companion confronted a driver in an airport garage and demanded her luxury vehicle at knifepoint. During the struggle the driver hit the accelerator and was crushed against a pillar. The death took place while the armed carjacking felony was underway. The intent to commit that felony supplies the malice for murder.
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Felipe Figueroa disabled an alarm and locked a guard inside a server cage while stealing processors from a data center. An electrical fire started during the theft and the guard died from smoke inhalation. The death occurred in the course of the felony. The underlying felony intent supplies implied malice for murder.
Faith Fitzgerald disabled a factory conveyor's emergency stop to speed up her secret removal of finished goods. A coworker was pulled into the machinery and killed while clearing a jam created by the altered process. The death happened while the embezzlement felony was in progress. The felony intent supplies the malice element for murder.
Felicity French and two accomplices robbed a business owner at gunpoint. The owner, who had a known heart condition, collapsed and died minutes after the robbery ended. The death was caused by the stress of the armed robbery felony. The felony-murder doctrine treats the killing as murder without separate proof of intent to kill.
Farid Farahani waited in the getaway car while his partners entered a home to commit armed robbery. One resident was shot and killed during the robbery. Farid had no direct role in the shooting and did not intend any death. The felony-murder rule still imposes murder liability on him as an accomplice to the underlying felony.
No. The rule treats the intent to commit the underlying felony as supplying the implied malice required for murder. A defendant may be convicted even without any separate purpose to cause death.
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An intent to commit the predicate felony itself satisfies the malice element. The rule converts that felony intent into implied malice when a death occurs during commission of the felony.
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Yes. The prosecution need only prove that the defendant intended to commit the felony and that a death occurred during its commission. A separate conviction on the predicate felony is not required.
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No. A death during a misdemeanor that does not qualify for felony-murder treatment is typically involuntary manslaughter under the unlawful-act theory.
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…such a reading of Mullaney might also, for example, discourage Congress from enacting pending legislation to change the felony-murder rule by permitting the accused to prove by a preponderance of the evidence the affirmative defense that the homicide committed was neither a necessary nor a reasonably foreseeable consequence of…