The Provocative Act doctrine

"This man had no business killing these boys," Brown said. "They were shot in the back. They had fled."

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Edmonds' stepson, Dale Lafferty, suffered brain damage from the baseball bat beating he took during the melee. The 19-year-old lives in a rehabilitation center and can no longer feed himself.

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So these choir boys just came in looking for Mary-Jane, and the kid beat himself up with the baseball bat?

However, in one notable case in Southern California in 1999, a man who robbed a family at gunpoint in their home was convicted of murder because a police officer pursuing him in a car chase slammed into another driver in an intersection, killing her.

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Interesting that they don't mention the man's race in that story, given that they are playing the Race Card heavily here.

I can see it. None of those poor innocent boys who were just about to turn their lives around would have been in that position - - - Had They Not been trying to commit a crimminal act.
They started the ball rolling, they bear the responsibility for what happens to anyone involved, including themselves.

Arizona has something like this

It's not quite the same thing but close. I know that they've used it in similar home invasion cases before. Interestingly they've also used it here in the car chase scenario.

It's pretty much the felony murder rule - all the involved felons may be charged with all the deaths that occur during the felony whether they pulled the trigger or not, even accidental deaths that occur during felonies. It is a colorblind rule and should be easy to show that there's no racial issue, since people of all colors get charged with it all over the country. Common in many states.

Why California had to call it "provocative act doctrine" . . .

Serves 'em right for trying to be P.C.

Hughes' mother, San Francisco schoolteacher Judy Hughes, said she believes the group didn't intend to rob the family, just buy marijuana.

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And also beat someone with a bat. Just buy marijuana and give a 19 year old permanent brain damage, that's all they intended to do.

willbrink, think of it as an extensive or expansion of the Felony-Murder Rule. The defendant may be held liable for non-intentional or knowingly acts (e.g. reckless criminal behavior).

Have not thought much about this since law school and Rudstein's obession with the MPC ("Model Penal Code"). Here's the MPC's definition=>

[3] "Provocative Act" Doctrine – A felon may be held responsible for the death of another at the hands of a third party, if the basis for the charge is not felony-murder, but instead is founded on what is sometimes termed the "provocative act" doctrine, which is simply a form of reckless homicide, e.g., a felon recklessly provokes a victim to shoot in self-defense, killing an innocent bystander.

esq, I believe that California calls it that because that is what the Model Penal Code calls it.

I believe that California calls it that because that is what the Model Penal Code calls it.

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No, the MPC calls it murder, and you can satisfy the definition of murder by committing a felony that leads to a death (so basically the felony murder rule). California just likes to be different.

This is a more resent and very similar event that happened in the San Francisco bay-area.
The city is Pittsburg, California.

http://cbs5.com/local/rex.farrance.robbery.2.451179.html
This is a shorten version of the article
PITTSBURG (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― A senior editor for PC World Magazine was shot to death in his Pittsburg home in what police described as a drug-related attack, authorities said Wednesday.

Rex Farrance, 59, the San Francisco-based magazine's senior technical editor, was shot in the chest after four masked men broke into his home in the 100 block of Argosy Court at around 9 p.m. Tuesday.

"When [Farrance] was trying to comply with their demands, he was shot and fatally wounded," Pittsburg police Inspector John Conaty said.

The assailants also pistol-whipped Farrance's wife, Lenore Vantosh-Farrance, 56, a registered nurse. She called 911, but the attackers fled before officers arrived.

The motive for the attack appears to have been robbery, Conaty said, but investigators found evidence at the home that leads them to believe the couple wasn't targeted randomly.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/14206012/detail.html
This is a shorten version of the article
MARTINEZ . -- Two Pittsburg men charged with the special circumstances murder of PC World editor Rex Farrance pleaded not guilty Thursday in a Contra Costa County courtroom.
Darryl Westley Hudson and Montrell Lamar Hall, both 23, have been charged with murder, two counts of first-degree residential robbery and one count of burglary as well as multiple enhancements for each count, and the special circumstances allegation of killing a person in the commission of a robbery, a charge that could bring them the death penalty.
Hudson has also been charged with discharging a firearm and was the alleged shooter. Hall was charged with the use of a firearm for allegedly pistol-whipping Farrance's wife.

A third suspect, Tremaine Cleothuis Amos, 25, of Bay Point, faces similar charges, but was not in court Thursday because he was still in High Desert State Prison in Susanville serving a sentence for a different crime.

Only the San Jose Mercury News had the guts to show pictures of the “suspects!”
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime/ci_7002821?nclick_check=1

Ohio has the "Felony Murder" rule.

Earlier this year, a nitwit named Arthur Buford, accompanied by a "friend", tried to rob a guy on his own front lawn. The victim drilled Arthur. The friend ran for the tall grass, but was apprehended shortly thereafter. I believe he's since been charged with felony murder, since he was involved in a felony in which someone was killed, namely Arthur the idiot, who was on probation for armed robbery at the time of his extremely timely demise. I hope the other imbecile gets the death penalty.

I've heard of this rule most frequently applied (and, admitting, it may be that the news sources I frequent tend to focus on these stories) when a police officer dies in circumstances related to the commission of a violent felony.

One story that sticks out in my mind is that of people involved in a high speed pursuit being charged with felony murder, after a police officer fell off an overpass while directing traffic away from the pursuit, even though it happened miles away from where the chase actually occurred.

I can't say I'm all that opposed. If you set up a criminal situation wherein someone dies, you're responsible.

That reminds me of another time that suspects were charge with Murder 1st degree. It was when a fire-fighting tanker air craft crash killing all crewmembers on the plane. The plane was on a chemical fire-retardant drop mission during a forest fire. The suspects were charge with stating fire during the process of operating clandestine lab Meth based in the forest. The aircrew was not law enforcement personal and the aircraft crash due to structural problem. They were still charge with Murder during the commission of a felony.