NCJ Number
112511
Journal
Georgia Law Review Volume: 20 Issue: 3 Dated: (Spring 1986) Pages: 671-704
Date Published
1986
Length
34 pages
Annotation
While 41 States and the District of Columbia adhere to some version of the felony-murder rule applied to drug suppliers in the case of drug overdose fatalities, this rule has been almost universally criticized.
Abstract
Under common law doctrine, felony-murder is a strict liability crime. The State need not prove malice aforethought once it has shown the defendant's intent to commit the underlying felony. The causation element of ordinary murder, however remains intact. In drug-related cases, the applications of the felony-murder rule are contrary to longstanding legal and constitutional principles. First, regardless of the felony committed by a drug supplier; the act of supplying the drug does not legally cause a user's overdose and death. Second, those courts that use the rule violate the accused's constitutional guarantee of due process of law by failing to prove the causation element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Finally, by treating drug suppliers as murderers, and thereby requiring that they be punished as severely as those who either intend to or legally cause the death of others, the courts necessarily impose a disproportionate sentence in violation of the eighth amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. While application of the rule often justified in terms of its deterring effects, the chances of an overdose death are low. Thus, the rule appears to advance no principle other than revenge or vindication of the user's death. 141 footnotes.