felony murder doctrine
(redirected from Felony murder)
Also found in: Dictionary, Medical, Wikipedia.felony murder doctrine
n. a rule of criminal statutes that any death which occurs during the commission of a felony is first degree murder, and all participants in that felony or attempted felony can be charged with and found guilty of murder. A typical example is a robbery involving more than one criminal, in which one of them shoots, beats to death or runs over a store clerk, killing the clerk. Even if the death were accidental, all of the participants can be found guilty of felony murder, including those who did no harm, had no gun, and/or did not intend to hurt anyone. In a bizarre situation, if one of the hold-up men or women is killed, his fellow robbers can be charged with murder. (See: murder)
Were the police in the commission of a felony? Or were they trying to make an arrest? I guess if you can say the arrest itself is a felony then that statute would apply. I can't see it holding up in court. What happened was horrible and shouldn't happen, I just don't believe they will get a murder conviction based on all the evidence, unless there is some new evidence that comes to light. felony murder doctrine
(redirected from Felony murder)
Also found in: Dictionary, Medical, Wikipedia.felony murder doctrine
n. a rule of criminal statutes that any death which occurs during the commission of a felony is first degree murder, and all participants in that felony or attempted felony can be charged with and found guilty of murder. A typical example is a robbery involving more than one criminal, in which one of them shoots, beats to death or runs over a store clerk, killing the clerk. Even if the death were accidental, all of the participants can be found guilty of felony murder, including those who did no harm, had no gun, and/or did not intend to hurt anyone. In a bizarre situation, if one of the hold-up men or women is killed, his fellow robbers can be charged with murder. (See: murder)