Never Bring A Knife To A Gun Fight, or "I'm charged with what?"

[chinto]

yep and a few states have gotten rid of it. mainly because of injustice from it. If I remember right there is a guy doing 25 to life because he lent his car to some one and went to bed. that some one robbed a store and killed some one and they charged him because it was his car used. he had no knowledge before hand or even after until arrested! even the main defendant apparently said so! So yes you can use it in ways that I think the legislatures did not intend or foresee.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I agree she got what she deserved, but not how she deserved it. Whether or not she was under his influence, there was no intent to murder him--and even manslaughter seems a stretch to me. Convict her for what she did--and I'm fine with considering her equally guilty of attempted murder of the cop--but not for what she didn't do (kill her boyfriend). This logic is too tortuous to sit well with me.

I hear what you're saying, but felony murder charges are not uncommon, and they're based on logic that, while perhaps tortured, is not too difficult for me to follow. If I intend to commit a criminal act, and someone dies as a result of that act, I don't think it matters whether or not I actually planned to do that. If so, a person could get off if they robbed a store, shot the storekeeper, but argued that the gun was defective and just 'went off' all by itself. Doesn't matter, does it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 commission of a felony, the offender can be charged with 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. For this reason, the felony murder rule is often justified by its supporters as a means of deterring dangerous felonies.

 

[arnisador]

The difference for me is whether it's your accomplice in the crime that dies. Is anyone really bothered by that? If the shopkeeper dies, I'm Ok with charging them all as responsible for his death--in fact, I favor that. But if your criminal buddy dies, I'm less Ok with it. Suppose A talks B into committing a crime with him, and A dies--charging B for his death seems unfair.