Needing some answers I can’t find..

[catbrown91]

if a predicate/underlying felony is dismissed during jury charge conference, can the defendant be found guilty of felony murder using the dismissed felony

 

[Zigner]

What US state?
What are the facts in the matter?

 

[adjusterjack]

Probably not a good idea to reveal the state or the facts on a public website.

Catbrown91 would be wise to rely on his attorney for the answer to that question.

 

[Taxing Matters]

if a predicate/underlying felony is dismissed during jury charge conference, can the defendant be found guilty of felony murder using the dismissed felony

The state cannot mention the dismissed charges as that may be prejudicial to the defendant. Whether evidence gathered in the investigation of the dismissed case may be used in the case that was not dismissed is a subject that would take too much time to discuss here. The exact details of how that evidence was obtained and its connection to the still pending case matter a great deal and that's something that you should discuss with your attorney. Any detailed facts you post here might end up jeopardizing the attorney-client privilege, and that's something you really don't want to have happen.

 

[catbrown91]

The state cannot mention the dismissed charges as that may be prejudicial to the defendant. Whether evidence gathered in the investigation of the dismissed case may be used in the case that was not dismissed is a subject that would take too much time to discuss here. The exact details of how that evidence was obtained and its connection to the still pending case matter a great deal and that's something that you should discuss with your attorney. Any detailed facts you post here might end up jeopardizing the attorney-client privilege, and that's something you really don't want to have happen.

The state cannot mention the dismissed charges as that may be prejudicial to the defendant. Whether evidence gathered in the investigation of the dismissed case may be used in the case that was not dismissed is a subject that would take too much time to discuss here. The exact details of how that evidence was obtained and its connection to the still pending case matter a great deal and that's something that you should discuss with your attorney. Any detailed facts you post here might end up jeopardizing the attorney-client privilege, and that's something you really don't want to have happen.

Thank you for your time. That confirms what we kind of already thought. It’s hard to find anything to support it case law wise which is why I chose to ask.

 

[CavemanLawyer]

I completely disagree with most of what has been posted above. This forum is useless unless you at least tell us the State this is occurring in. The laws that apply and the correct answer to your question depends entirely on the jurisdiction you are in. Also in most cases the jury charge conference happens right before the case is submitted to the jury, in which case this trial has already occurred and there is really no reason the poster cannot talk about the facts of the case. Those facts are literally public record now.

I bet I could answer your question if I had some facts and I could read the indictments. Just based on these very limited details, it simply doesn't make sense and there has to be another explanation. It would be double jeopardy to charge someone with both felony murder and the underling predicate felony as well. Which makes me think that there was some nuance that actually separated the two charges, or perhaps you are confusing dismissing the predicate felony with simply omitting it as a lesser included offense in the jury charge. If either of these are true then it likely has zero effect on the State's ability to proceed on the felony murder charge. I would need to know alot more facts to be able to give a better answer.