Oscar Sosa/New York Times

The doctrine of Felony Murder is one of those troglodyte ideas that have come down to us from the Bad Old Days. It has been abolished in most of the other major Common Law markets (so to speak) — England in 1957; India and Canada thereafter. According to the aggressive version of this doctrine that holds in Florida, accessories to murder share full culpability. The guy who drives the getaway car, notoriously, is as guilty as the shooter.

Even the guy who lends the getaway car, it seems. If Adam Liptak’s story about Ryan Holle’s bad luck doesn’t put your bowels in an uproar, then you have no conscience.

Did I say “bad luck”? Ho ho! Could it be that Mr Holle, a black man, was unlucky to be charged with felony-murder in Florida?

Drop me a line at rjk@dailyblague.com
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 11:09 am. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.