Quote (Goomshill @ Jun 3 2020 10:06pm)
The felony murder rule is about the transferred intent and criminal liability. Its not just a description of committing multiple crimes at once or as an accomplice to others- its possible to commit felony murder as a sole perpetrator. The point of the rule is that someone who commits an inherently dangerous felony becomes responsible for the lethal consequences of their actions, even if they weren't intended, even if someone else pulled the trigger- or was shooting at them and missed and hit a bystander. The felony murder rule says that as long as there is a proximate and coherent line of causation between your inherently dangerous felony and someone else's death, you're responsible for it.
An example of a felony murder conviction for one person committing only one crime, would be if an arsonist burns down a building during a riot in minneapolis thinking the building is empty, but someone inside of it burns to death. It wouldn't be first or even second degree direct murder because there's no specific intent to murder, but it can still be felony murder because there's a specific intent to commit arson which a reasonable person would know could endanger lives, and thus be held responsible for it. The underlying felony still exists- arson- but also a murder charge.
There's no way in which the felony murder rule comes into play without an underlying felony. If the murder itself is the underlying crime, then the rule would be redundant. If there's no felony and you didn't intentionally cause their death then its... not murder.
Yeah, I thought you were saying that Chauvin couldn't be charged with murder because of the felony murder rule. If that's not what you're saying we don't have disagreement.