This post comes with a whole heap of disclosures and caveats. I have no experience in criminal law, and I have no particular knowledge of the facts of this case other than what I’ve read in the newspaper and my limited interactions with the victim. But, a recent case on the south side of Lafayette have me dusting off what I learned about felony murder from Professor Bradley back in law school.
Basically, the idea is that you can be guilty of murder even if you didn’t intend to kill the person if you kill them while you were intentionally committing another felony. Indiana’s felony murder statute is set forth at IC 35-42-1-1(2):
A person who kills another human being while committing or attempting to commit arson, burglary, child molesting, consumer product tampering, criminal deviate conduct, kidnapping, rape, robbery, human trafficking, promotion of human trafficking, sexual trafficking of a minor, or carjacking commits murder, a felony.
Facts are definitely still emerging in the new Lafayette case, but we do know that a guy is dead from a gunshot wound. It looks to have been a robbery and possibly a revenge shooting.
Wikipedia introduces the concept of felony murder:
The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder in two ways. First, when an offender kills accidentally or without specific intent to kill in the course of an applicable felony, what might have been manslaughter is escalated to murder. Second, it makes any participant in such a felony criminally liable for any deaths that occur during or in furtherance of that felony. While there is some debate about the original scope of the rule, modern interpretations typically require that the felony be an inherently dangerous one, or one committed in an obviously dangerous manner.
Controversy, such as it is, over the concept generally involves concerns that the person can be convicted of murder even if they did not intend to cause death.
The most objectionable thing about felony murder is the name. My first thought when I see it is “as opposed to misdemeanor murder”. Otherwise, this is one of the “tough on crime” laws that I’m fine with.
Are you saying you agree with the concerns regarding this criminal statute?
Of course, “felony murder” is just like every crime (to a higher degree), and prosecutor discretion is a very important thing Not every offense that could lead to a felony murder charge should lead to a felony murder charge, and it is important we have good decisions made in the prosecutor’s office.
Nope. I don’t really have a problem with it. Just noting that some have concerns about the mens rea the prosecution has to show for a conviction. I see where such folks are coming from, but I don’t really share those concerns.