Call it what you will, but the felony murder rule is murder in name only. In fact, its a first-degree murder charge for an admittedly unintentional killing. More specifically, its a killing that happens during the commission of an inherently dangerous felony. ... The prosecution has charged Harris with second degree child cruelty, and used that charge as the predicate felony for the murder charge. Theres just one problem: The second degree cruelty charge is a negligence crime. That means Harris is charged with murder using a felony charge that is an unintentional crime. In other words, Georgia reserves the charge of murder for the most intentional, depraved conduct, but if you do something unintentional but negligent, that can be a qualifying felony. So, charging Harris with felony murder predicated on child neglect was a brilliant strategic move by the prosecutors. Proving a specific intent to kill in this case will be more difficult than proving mere carelessness in parenting. And if both are murder, then theres no reason to charge the more difficult crime to prove. ... Why put on evidence of so much malice if it wasnt really germane to a charge of neglect? Because well probably see upgraded charges in the near future, once this case goes to a grand jury. ~ Danny Cevallos (CNN legal analyst, criminal defense attorney)
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 04:14:58 +0000
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