Also known as: major offenses · felony
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A serious crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Miranda Morales hid inside a home intending to steal valuables. After the occupants returned she forced open a window to flee. Because the force served only to exit and did not facilitate entry the conduct did not satisfy the breaking element of the major offense of burglary.
Melanie Morris fled to another state after committing a major offense of securities fraud in her home state. The governor of the home state demanded her return under the extradition clause and the second state was required to deliver her for prosecution.
Musa Mensah inserted a hooked wire through a mail slot to retrieve cash from a table inside a dwelling. Because the tool was employed to accomplish the theft rather than merely to gain entry the insertion satisfied the entry element of the major offense of burglary.
Mariam Mansour entered a dwelling without permission to seek shelter from a storm. Once inside she decided to take jewelry. Because the intent to commit the felony arose only after entry she did not commit the major offense of burglary.
Maya Malik and Miguel Mendoza agreed to commit arson and then set the fire. Because the completed major offense occurred the inchoate conspiracy merged into the felony and was no longer separately punishable as a misdemeanor.
Momentum Capital employees committed a major offense of securities fraud that did not qualify for felony murder. When a death resulted from their conduct the killing supported liability for involuntary manslaughter under the unlawful-act theory.
A major offense is punishable by more than one year of imprisonment or involves moral turpitude while a misdemeanor carries a lesser penalty and does not carry the same stigma.
Yes. When the principal felony is completed the inchoate offenses of solicitation attempt and conspiracy merge into the completed major offense and are no longer separately punishable as misdemeanors.
Yes. When a death results from a felony outside the felony-murder rule the killing may support involuntary manslaughter under the unlawful-act theory.
…common-law scholars and found its way into the received common law in this country. Whether abortion of a quick fetus was a felony at common law, or even a lesser crime, is still disputed. Bracton, writing early in the 13th century, thought it homicide.[^maj-23] But the later and predominant view, following the great…