Opinion ID: 1058543
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: First Degree Felony Murder

Text: First degree murder includes a killing of another committed in the perpetration of or attempt to perpetrate any ... robbery. Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-202(a)(2) (1997). Robbery is defined as the intentional or knowing theft of property from the person of another by violence or putting the person in fear. Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-401(a) (1997). To support a felony murder conviction, the intent to commit the underlying felony must exist prior to or concurrent with the commission of the act causing the death of the victim. State v. Buggs, 995 S.W.2d 102, 107 (Tenn.1999). Although the intent to commit the underlying felony cannot be presumed from the act of committing the felony, a jury may reasonably infer from a defendant's actions immediately after a killing that the defendant had the intent to commit the felony prior to or concurrent with the killing. Id. at 108. We conclude that the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the State, was sufficient to establish that the intent to commit the underlying felony of robbery existed prior to the acts causing the victims' deaths. On the morning of the murders, Leach was evading the police because of his attack on Brown. His telephone call to his sister went unanswered. Leach lied to McBride about the success of the call in order to buy time. After the murders, Leach had the truck and money he needed to flee Nashville. From this evidence, the jury could have reasonably inferred that Leach had formed the intent to rob the victims prior to their murders.