Say I hire someone to kill my wife, but my wife gets the better of him and kills him in self-defense.
I am guilty of at least attempted murder. Could I also be guilty of
- Murder (presumably second-degree)
- Felony murder (with the murder conspiracy as the predicate felony)
Yes, this is the plot of Dial M For Murder and yes, this question got me thinking.
I was reading the New York State statutes closely and it wasn’t clear to me. They don’t list murder itself as a predicate felony — I assume because accidentally knocking off some random bystander definitely still counts as a regular murder — but the felony-murder rule explicitly excludes co-participants, which feels fair. I don’t know if this is universal.
The provision in the second-degree statutes includes “third persons”, but does not explicitly say whether a participant would be counted as a third-person or not.
Is there any case law?