Felony Murder Liability for Homicides by Police: Too Unfair and Too Much to Bear

• Kolar, Maria T. ^[1]
  1. [1] Oklahoma City University

     Oklahoma City University

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: The journal of criminal law and criminology, ISSN 0091-4169, Vol. 113, Nº. 2, 2023, págs. 241-307
• Idioma: español
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• Resumen

  • On November 23, 2020, a fifteen-year-old boy was gunned down by five Oklahoma City police officers, after he exited a convenience store and dropped the gun that he and a sixteen-year-old partner had earlier used to rob the store’s owner. Initially, the boy’s non-present partner was charged with first-degree (felony) murder for this killing. But after months of efforts by the boy’s mother and local activists, the district attorney also charged five officers with first-degree manslaughter for this same killing.

    This case raises the question of whether Oklahoma—or any American state—can convict a defendant of felony murder based upon a killing that was a criminal homicide by a police officer. More broadly, it raises the question of whether a felony “participant” can be convicted of felony murder based upon a killing by a “nonparticipant,” who killed while resisting the underlying felony. Killings by “nonparticipants” include killings by responding police officers, as well as by bystanders and victims of the original felony.