Criminal,
California Supreme Court
May 4, 2026
California Supreme Court narrows felony-murder liability for nonkillers
The ruling resolves a split among California appellate courts over how to apply the revised felony-murder law.
The California Supreme Court on Monday clarified the scope of felony-murder liability for nonkillers, holding that a defendant who did not personally commit a murder must have aided the actual killer in the lethal act itself--not merely the underlying felony--to be convicted of first-degree murder under current law.
In a majority opinion authored by Justice Joshua Groban, the court reversed a lower court ruling that had denied resentencing relief to Richard Curtis Morris Jr., who ...
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