The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 10: We’ll All Go Down Together
Conspiracy pg 32: Limits of Felony Murder
So the question becomes whether the heist was inherently dangerous to begin with, or whether the shooting was foreseeable.
Let’s say nobody but Bahr knew he’d brought a gun along. The plan was to slip in and out without anyone realizing it. All Bahr was supposed to do was alert us so we could escape. The scheme didn’t put anyone in danger, and nobody but Bahr could have foreseen the shooting. In that case, maybe Bahr is liable for the felony murder of the baby, but the rest of us shouldn’t be.
But what if Bahr’s gun was part of the plan?
That’d mean we had anticipated a scenario where he’d have to use it. People who get shot do sometimes die, so we could certainly foresee a situation where someone got killed during the heist. In that case, we’d all be guilty of Felony Murder.
If the conspirators didn’t know Bahr had a gun, how is that different from the conspirators not knowing that Ledway was going to steal a car? Shouldn’t all be guilty?
I know I’m coming to the story way late, but it’s the same as Ms. Flavors stealing from the ATM: If no one knew Bahr had a gun, that doesn’t REALLY matter, what matters is whether him having a weapon and the intent to possibly use deadly force was a part of the conspiracy or not. If no one knew Bahr had a gun (which is certainly what they would argue in court whether they did or not), that would prove it wasn’t part of the conspiracy, it was a crime Bahr intended to commit on his own.
Does that make sense?
Oh, and I forgot: I don’t quite know for sure myself, but I think the reason why they’d be responsible for Ledway’s theft is that if he DID steal a car, it would have been stolen in commission of getting away from the scene of the crime and avoiding responsibility, which would be inherently a part of the heist’s conspiracy.