alt.lawyers

In article < $ @ >,
Peter Franks wrote:

> Larry wrote:
> > In article <6bdc58b108cc0e8755e22398a1e4586f@ >,
> > George Orwell wrote:
> >
> >
> >>>Earlier on Friday, Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris suggested the suspect
> >>>could "be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy."
> >>
> >>Very logical of the Chief to blame the criminal in the ground chase for the=
> >>helicopter crash up in the air.
> >
> >
> > It's known as felony murder. If, in the commission of certain felonies,
> > a non-participant is killed, then the perpetrator of the felony is
> > guilty of the murder. If it happens during the the commission of a
> > misdemeanor, it is known as misdemeanor manslaughter.
>
> Those 'participants' in this case (the helicopter pilots and implied
> passengers) voluntarily put themselves in harms way, therefore there is
> no reasonable basis for felony murder/misdemeanor manslaughter.

This isn't a defense to F-M/M-M. If a violent crime is happening and a
good Samaritan puts himself in harms way and tries to stop it, and is
killed in the process (directly *OR* indirectly), the criminal can still
be charged with F-M or M-M. Of course, the pilots weren't intervening
to stop the crime, but the "voluntarily put themselves in harms way"
rule isn't what controls this situation.

> So, in this case, the pilot(s) are responsible for the crash, not the
> "criminal".