This is a law that needs to be changed. A person has no
control of what another does. My son was aledgedly 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 wothout 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
changeing 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 individual's 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.
|
