Court Opinion

ID: 9543565
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:46:35.741957+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:10:36.431119
License: Public Domain

*512Nolan, J.
(dissenting). I dissent. The defendant went to the victim’s house armed with two loaded guns, a sawed-off shotgun, a large dog, a knife, and handcuffs in order to earn the money paid to him by Samson to collect an old gambling debt. In this setting, the victim was killed. It borders on the fanciful to deny that one of the natural and probable consequences of such attempted extortion is homicide. See Commonwealth v. Devlin, 335 Mass. 555, 566-567 (1957). In fact, in terms of what is inherently dangerous (see note 15, supra), it is difficult to say what is more dangerous — arson, burglary, robbery and larceny on the one hand, or the crime of attempted extortion committed in this case. Hence, if such crimes as arson, burglary, robbery and larceny can be the basis for the application of the felony-murder rule, so too should the attempted extortion perpetrated in this case. We should not hesitate to apply the felony-murder rule to these facts simply because extortion was a misdemeanor at common law. We should look to the present status of extortion. It is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the State prison for a term up to fifteen years. Consistent, then, with the language in Commonwealth v. Rego, 360 Mass. 385, 395 (1971), and Commonwealth v. White, 353 Mass. 409, 414 (1967), cert. denied, 391 U.S. 968 (1968), we should approve the judge’s instructions on the felony-murder rule in this case. See also Commonwealth v. Gricus, 317 Mass. 403, 411-412 (1944).