The Felony Murder Rule: Punishment for a Crime Not Committed

In what strange world can you serve a life sentence for a murder you didn’t commit? No, this isn’t another blog post about wrongful convictions -- this one’s about the criminal statute that allows a defendant to be charged and convicted of murder when the defense, prosecution and judge are all in agreement that the defendant didn't actually kill anyone. Confused? You're not alone. Even with the benefit of a complete understanding of how criminal charges work, the felony murder rule is one that simply doesn’t make sense.

Not all homicides are treated equally under the law. First and second degree murder, manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter are all very different. Though exact charges vary from state to state, murder is far more serious than manslaughter and therefore punished more severely. Felony murder rule is a crime that a person can be charged with if they are involved in a felonious act that ends in the death of another. The felony murder rule can be applied to all accomplices in a felony and it doesn’t matter whether or not the resulting death was accidental or even if it was purposefully committed by another party.

Currently, a 16-year-old child is awaiting trial on second degree murder charges under the felony murder rule in the state of Florida. William Murphy was with three friends one night when they decided to break into the residence of 37-year-old Jose Oyola-Aponte. Oyola-Aponte awoke to hear the window in his bedroom being smashed open, grabbed his .40 caliber Glock and fired twice. One bullet hit Murphy in the stomach and the other hit his friend, 15-year old Otilio Rubio, in the head. Following two days in critical condition, Rubio would die and Murphy would be charged with his murder.

As would be the case in most states, Mr. Oyola-Aponte had the right to protect his home and family and therefore could not be charged. Under the felony murder rule, however, because the boys were committing a felony at the time of the injury that led to Rubio’s death, they can be charged with murder. The other two have been charged as juveniles while Murphy, who admitted to breaking the window, is awaiting trial on adult charges and faces a potential 50 year sentence.

The shooting of a child is tragic and I’m in no way saying that these boys don’t deserve some sort of punishment. But does this 16-year-old child deserve to spend the next 50 years in the adult prison system for murder when he didn’t touch the murder weapon and hadn’t even breached the threshold of Oyola-Aponte’s home?

Although some states have changed their felony murder rule, significantly limiting its application to only certain dangerous felonies where the risk of harm is high, others have not. The Model Penal Code, a sort of optional guidebook of reasonable criminal laws for states to follow, did away with the felony murder rule altogether.

There are several issues with the rule, the biggest of which is the absence of mens rea, a guilty mind or what’s commonly known as criminal intent. The rule basically circumvents the legal requirements of a murder charge, intent being one of them, and allows prosecutors to seek the penalty for a charge someone simply didn’t commit. In some states, the felony murder rule is even applicable in flight from a felony. This means it would be possible to face murder charges if a codefendant is killed in an auto accident fleeing from the police after a bank robbery even if the defendant had no hand in the accident and the qualifying felony had already been committed.

In a historic case (People v. Hickman), felony murder charges were levied against a group of three burglars who were being pursued by the police. The three men burgled a warehouse in Joliet, Michigan, in 1970. When the police were pursuing two of the men in the brush near the warehouse, one police officer ended up shot by a fellow cop who became confused in the dark. Although the two suspects were later found to have been not armed, they were both convicted of the murder.

Supporters of the felony murder rule claim the rule has a dramatic deterrent effect. However, what motivated felon stops to weigh the risk of their friend dying by accident before committing a felony? And if they do, how many even know whether there’s a felony murder law in their state and what that could potentially mean for their future? Most who would take the risk involved in committing a felony act in the first place wouldn’t likely change their mind because of this added potential threat.

In some ways it seems that the felony murder rule is purely a retributive law. When a person is killed we automatically want to punish and point the finger. No one wants to accept the unexpected death of another, and the knowledge that it was an accident is typically no consolation to a victim’s family. When the person who actually committed the homicide can’t be charged, we look for someone else to target, and who better to target than someone who was committing another crime?

Photo Credit: dsb nola