Opinion ID: 2133639
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Same-Act Doctrine

Text: Under the same-act doctrine, application of the felony-murder rule is precluded whenever the act that constitutes the predicate felony is the same act that results in the death of the victim. Although this may appear to be a mere restatement of the merger doctrine, it is in fact an expansion of the merger doctrine to any predicate felony, whether or not it involves assaultive conduct. For example, under this doctrine, the defendant who commits arson for profit cannot be convicted of felony murder if, unknown to the arsonist, there is a person inside the structure who dies in the flames. Because the act that constitutes the felony  starting the fire  is the same dangerous felonious act that causes the death of the victim, a conviction for felony murder is precluded. In contrast, application of the merger doctrine would not bar application of the felony-murder rule to this arsonist. Massachusetts appears to have adopted the same-act doctrine, which, perhaps, is more accurately described as the different act rule. In Commonwealth v. Kilburn, 438 Mass. 356, 359, 780 N.E.2d 1237, 1240 (2003), that state's highest court stated that the doctrine of felony murder requires that the conduct constituting the felony be separate from the act of personal violence that causes the death. Kilburn was properly convicted of felony murder based on the predicate felony of armed assault in a dwelling because he committed two separate assaults  first, brandishing a pistol with the intention of arousing fear in the victim and, second, shooting him. Kilburn, 438 Mass. at 359, 780 N.E.2d at 1241. See also Commonwealth v. Smiley, 431 Mass. 477, 489, 727 N.E.2d 1182, 1192 (2000) (defendant was properly convicted of felony murder because the initial assault designed to gain entry into the victim's dwelling was separate from the act necessary to commit the unlawful killing).