Felony Murder Rule

This is a law that needs to be changed. A person has no control of what another does. My son was allegedly a get away driver for a botched robbery. He was not in the area where a person with him shot a man. My son is now facing life without and charged with murder and sent to a level 4 prison, he has never even been to a county jail and now he fights to save his life behind bars. He has to look over his back all the time. He is white and they say the whites are treated the worst. He is not a murderer. A person can go and actually murder someone and be out of prison in 25 years but my son who did nothing gets life without. He does not deserve this. Can you help us in changing this law.


WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE FELONY MURDER RULE

Preface/Definitions (criteria vary from state to state)

1. First-degree Murder - A willful, deliberate, premeditated (planned) killing.

2. Second-degree Murder - An unplanned killing resulting from a malicious assault or other act, including the unlawful distribution of drugs when the ingestion of such substance causes the death of the user. Second-degree murder is one in which the defendant, as a "reasonably prudent person," knows that the circumstances may cause the death of another person.

3. Voluntary Manslaughter - Killing which occurs in the heat of passion and/or without malicious intent.

4. Involuntary Manslaughter - Involuntary Manslaughter - Death that occurs accidentally or in violation of a non-felony, such as reckless driving.

5. Homicide - The killing of a human being due to the act or omission of another. Murder and manslaughter are included among homicides, but not all homicides are a crime, particularly when there is a lack of criminal intent. Non-criminal homicides include killing in self-defense, accidents, such as a hunting accident, or a traffic accident where there is no violation of the law. Intent is the criterion that could elevate a charge from homicide (innocent or criminal), to murder.

6. Felony Murder Rule - States that any death, which occurs during the commission or attempt to commit certain felonies, which include arson, rape or other sexual offenses, burglary, robbery or kidnapping, is first-degree murder and all participants in the felony can be held equally culpable, including those who did no harm, possessed no weapon, and did not intend to hurt anyone. Intent does not have to be proven for anything but the underlying felony. Even if, during the commission of the underlying felony, death occurs from fright, a heart attack for instance, it is still first-degree murder.
Reasons Why the Felony Murder Rule is Wrong:

1. The felony murder rule does not take into consideration the defendant's motivation during the crime, thus relieving the prosecution of its burden of proving intent to kill, which is a necessary element in all other murder cases. Because intent can mean the difference between cold-blooded killing and accidental death, felony murder bears little resemblance to the offense of murder except in name. First-degree murder is often an arbitrary assignment.

A. Intent to commit felony does not equal intent to kill. The intention of committing a felony, by itself, should not be sufficient to establish a charge of murder.

B. The felony murder rule erodes the relationship between criminal liability and moral culpability. It equally punishes all homicides, which take place during the commission, or attempted commission, of the proscribed felonies, whether intentional, unintentional, or accidental.

2. Holding one or more people criminally liable for the tragic results of an act which differs greatly from the intended results is based on a concept of culpability which is totally at odds with the general principles of jurisprudence. It is fundamentally unfair and in violation of basic principles of individual criminal culpability to hold one person liable for the unforeseen and unagreed-to results of another person's action.

3. The basic rule of culpability is further violated when felony murder is categorized as first-degree murder.

A. All other first-degree murder charges (which carry equal punishment) require proof beyond reasonable doubt of premeditation, deliberation and willfulness. Felony murder requires only proof of intent to commit the underlying felony.

B. The purpose of creating degrees of murder is to punish with increased severity the more culpable forms of murder. However, an accidental death during the commission or attempted commission of a felony is punished more severely than a second-degree murder, which requires proof of intent to kill.

4. While the felony murder rule survives in California and other states, several states have repealed it. Other states have made numerous modifications and restrictions, and some states never incorporated the felony murder rule at all. The simple fact that state legislatures throughout the United States have repealed or amended the law reflects a wide dissatisfaction with the basic harshness and injustice of the doctrine and calls into question its continued existence.


5. Prosecutors can use the felony murder rule as a shortcut to justice.

A. The law relieves prosecutors of the burden of proving intent to kill, thereby making their cases much easier to win.

B. Because there are only two options for sentencing (life without parole and death), the law can cause grossly disproportionate sentencing, depending on the circumstances of each individual case. This wins prosecutors greater convictions when the sentences may not be at all appropriate.

The felony murder rule may be unconstitutional.

A. It does not presume innocence to the first-degree murder charge. If convicted of the underlying felony, the defendant is automatically also guilty of first-degree murder. There is no defense possible against the first-degree murder charge by itself.

B. In some cases it violates the Eighth Amendment: cruel and unusual punishment, grossly disproportionate to the crime(s) actually committed.

C. It holds unequally involved parties equally accountable and punishable. Again, cruel and unusual punishment if the punishments do not fit each individuals part in the crime.

D. It denies due process on the first-degree murder charge - a violation of the Fifth Amendment. It is not possible, for instance, to plead innocent to the charge of first-degree murder while pleading guilty to the underlying felony. The underlying felony and the first-degree murder charge are bound together and cannot be separated.