Talk:Felony murder rule

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[edit] "Attention"

- Needs rewrite of some convoluted sentences (may do this later)
- Needs more information on the nature of the "rule" - what, exactly, is it? A law, a body of law, what? Needs context info like that
- Needs more information on where the rule applies - which jurisdictions?
- Needs more information on history and origins of the rule
- Needs more information on such things as third-degree murder. no information about third-degree murder exists at all on wikipedia, as far as i can tell

-Needs a list of all the states that recognize the federal murder rule.

Reactions to the unsigned comment above:
  • Copyediting is always appropriate, but hardly reason for a tag.
  • "Nature of the rule," I am not clear on what is being requested. Reference to the article :on common law might be useful.
  • Which jurisdictions? We are talking about 51 jurisdictions, few of which have rules identical to any of the others. That's huge.
  • Origins and history is fair.
  • I don't see what Felony murder has to do with 3rd-degree murder.
  • A list of all states? That would be cumbersome, and not of much use without more details about each, since there are subtleties.
Robert A.West (Talk) 23:37, 12 March 2006 (UTC)
I think it's safe to say that all U.S. jurisdictions have felony murder as a species of murder. However, there are enough variations in the precise contours of the rule that a list of which states have which variations would cease to be encyclopedic. Anyone interested in those details could consult the appropriate legal treatise. --Axios023 06:27, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] US Felony Murder Examples

The majority of the examples in the US section are just plain wrong. Also, the cite to fn 3 is seriously mistaken -- a brief review of 82 Cal. Rptr. 598 shows that the charges of felony murder of the manager were affirmed on appeal.

A specific example: argument that Mary will not face felony murder charges is almost as ridiculous as the contention that she won't face felony murder charges "because she surrendered to authorities." I can give much more incredible examples of a barely participating co-felon receiving felony murder charges. I'll submit a proposed rewrite in the near future. Joshua Auriemma 22:31, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Expansion

After thinking about the request for attention, and looking at the material available, I decided that a significant expansion is in order. I will work as quickly as I may, and will always leave the article in a usable state, but I may have to leave things a bit uglier than I would like. Feel free to help flesh out sections, or hunt down citations I haven't found yet. Robert A.West (Talk) 02:44, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

P.S. I will try to finish, at least to the point that I can remove the template, by 3/16/06. Robert A.West (Talk) 02:45, 15 March 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Death Penalty

Modified page to cross-reference separate entry I am writing regarding felony murder and the death penalty. This separate page discusses the Court's decisions in Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782 (1982), and Tison v. Arizona, 481 U.S. 137 (1987). ---Axios023 05:26, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

I can't cite sources, but I remember a few years ago in the US a young lady was a part of a robbery. She surrendered to police quickly. Her boyfriend killed a police officer while the young lady was hand-cuffed in the back of a police car. She was subsequently convicted of felony murder. There should be a section on the abuse of the felony murder statue in the US in this article. 69.208.153.98 00:13, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

That young lady was Lisl Auman, and there's already a link at the bottom of the page to a story about her. Dgndenver 04:18, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Is it felony murder when the felony victim does the killing?

Consider the following scenario: John, Jane and Joe break into the home of Tom in the night with intent to rob him. Tom wakes up and hears them and confronts them with a shotgun. John responds by drawing a gun and pointing it at Tom. Tom fires (in self-defence) and kills John. The police arrive and arrest Jane and Joe.

The question is are Jane and Joe guilty of felony murder even though none of the perpetrators killed anyone? I believe the answer is yes in jurisdictions where the proximate cause theory is used. The odd, but not unjust, result is that Tom killed John, but is completely exculpated by self-defense, while none of the perpetrators killed anyone yet the surviving ones are guilty of felony murder.

  128.206.79.221 23:14, 25 October 2007 (UTC)tubaart

[edit] By Country

The By Country headline in this article can probably be removed. It only includes the United States, and the description is similar to the Description section's paragraph that details US law. —Preceding unsigned comment added by HappyJake (talk • contribs) 15:45, 12 February 2008 (UTC)