en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zizians
1 correction found
under California's felony murder rule
That describes the wrong California homicide doctrine. When a third party like an intended victim does the killing, California says it is not felony murder; the relevant theory is provocative-act murder.
Full reasoning
This phrase misstates the legal theory.
In the scenario described here, Curtis Lind is said to have killed Emma Borhanian while acting in self-defense. Under California’s official jury instructions for felony murder, if someone other than the defendant or a coparticipant committed the fatal act, then the crime is not felony murder. The same instruction says that in that situation, liability may instead be imposed under the provocative act doctrine.
California Penal Code § 189 likewise defines felony-murder liability around cases where a defendant is the actual killer, aids the actual killer with intent to kill, or is a major participant acting with reckless indifference. That is not the same as a case where a resisting victim or other non-accomplice third party does the killing.
There is one nuance: California materials explain that, in some provocative-act cases, the felony-murder rule can still affect the degree of murder after liability is established under the provocative-act doctrine. But that is different from saying the defendants were charged with murder under the felony-murder rule in the first place. The article’s wording collapses two distinct doctrines and is therefore inaccurate.
3 sources
- CALCRIM No. 540B. Felony Murder: First Degree - Coparticipant Allegedly Committed Fatal Act
"If the evidence indicates that someone other than the defendant or a coparticipant committed the fatal act, then the crime is not felony murder ... Liability may be imposed, however, under the provocative act doctrine."
- California Penal Code § 189
Section 189 says a participant in a qualifying felony is liable for murder only if the person was the actual killer, aided the actual killer with intent to kill, or was a major participant who acted with reckless indifference to human life.
- Committee on Revision of the Penal Code memorandum on provocative-act murder
The committee explains that when a killing is committed by a non-accomplice third party, California does not use the felony-murder rule to establish liability; instead, murder liability is established under the provocative act doctrine, with felony-murder rules potentially affecting only the degree.