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Supreme Court orders new trials for 13 murder convicts
The (Washington) state Supreme Court has ordered new trials for 13 men convicted of felony murder. Thursday's decision stems from a controversial 2002 ruling in which the high court declared that assaults resulting in death don't amount to murder. That ruling held that prosecutors can't charge someone with felony murder when an assault leads to death, unless the attacker intended to kill. Felony murder is the charge used when someone dies as a result of another crime, such as arson, rape or robbery. The state Legislature quickly changed the law to include assault as one of the crimes that can be used in felony murder charges, but the change in the law cannot apply retroactively, the court wrote...Posted by: Anonymoose 2004-11-20 |
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