Arguing The Felony Muder Doctrine

The question in People v. Dekens, 182 Ill. 2d 247, 695 N.E. 2d 474 (Il

Another issue concerning the felony murder doctrine is the line between when the felony has been considered concluded and actions taken thereafter are of independent will and not tied to the first felony. In People v. Moran, 246 N.Y. 100 (1927), Moran was convicted of first degree murder under the felony murder doctrine after two police officers pulled over their vehicle and the defendant drew a revolver and fired three shots at the officers, killing both.

Another case disposition that supports the irrelevancy of the felony murder doctrine being applied to a defendant as a result of his cofelon’s death is People v. Morris 1 Ill app. 3d 566, 274 n.e.2d 898 (1971). The defendant was arrested and charged with felony murder when he and two accomplices robbed the patrons of a Chicago restaurant. During the robbery another innocent person walked in and was immediately told that he must surrender his wrist watch to the felons. When this demand was not fulfilled, a scuffle ensued and three shots were fired, all believed to have exited from the gun of one of the felons. That felon had later died as a result of the injuries of the gun shots.

California is a state which has a more liberal approach to the felony murder rule. They feel that felony murder should only apply to cases where the death occurs due to negligence or accident during the furtherance of the commission of a felony, not when the felony was a good predictor of causing harm to the victims. Burglary is one crime which is debated over on whether or not felony murder should apply. Court decisions have favored the idea that burglary should only count if it was coupled with the intent to combine that felony with another, such as battery or assault. Basically they say there needs to be an intent to inflict harm to someone in burglary cases. Alabama Law Review, 2003, 66 Alb. L. Rev. 907.

In conclusion, the felony murder doctrine does not contain specific enough standards for which to apply it. Many felony murder convictions have been over turned due to the different interpretations of this statute by different judges. There is also a strong debate on whether or not a person can be charged with the justifiable death of a cofelon during the commission of a felony. In order to successfully apply the felony murder rule to society, there must be a stricter set of characteristics for this rule in order to take some discretion away from the judges. Reducing this discretion would create a more consistent application of the law against felons. We can not have two cases that are fairly similar and allow one man to receive the felony murder charge and one not to, based on the discretion of the judges. This thought creates doubt in the law and a d

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