Identify and explain the limitations to the felony murder rule

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Although the felony murder rule is far-reaching, there are limitations to it. One of them is that most states limit the rule to inherently dangerousfelonies, those most likely to result in serious injury or loss oflife. This includes any felony that "by its very nature … cannotbe committed without creating a substantial risk that someone will be killed. For crimes like robbery and arson, this definition suffices. For some others, however, it may not. Thus, courts will sometimes examine "the facts and the circumstances of the particular case to determine if such felony was inherently dangerous in the manner and circumstances in which it was committed."A second limitation placed on the felony murder rule is that the felony must be independent of the homicide. The res gestae requirement places yet another limitation on the felony murder rule. Simply, the homicide must occur during the res gestae of the felony. There are three subcomponents to the res gestae requirement: 1) The felony and the homicide must accompany each other in close temporal proximity. 2) The second component of the res gestae requirementis that there be a cause between the felony and the homicide.If the latter is wholly independent of the former, the felony murder rule will not apply. The third component of the res gestae requirement focuses on the who of the killing. Simply, what if a killing occurs during the course of a felony but at the hands of someone else? In general, the answer is that the felony murder rule "does not extend to a killing, although growing out of the commission of the felony, if directly attributable to the act of one other than the defendant or those associated with him in the unlawful enterprise." This means that if someone else other than the felon, even an adversary (such as a security guard who fires her gun at a bank robbery suspect and kills an innocent bystander), is responsible for the killing, the felony murder rule does not apply. So even though the felon sets the wheels in motion, he or she may not be properly held responsible for all harms that result from the felony he or she is responsible for.