Court Opinion

ID: 9563859
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:48:24.803236+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:05.879817
License: Public Domain

VOLLACK, Justice,
specially concurring in part:
I concur in the result reached by the majority. I write separately as to Part II, A., of the opinion because I believe a defendant may not be charged with attempted felony murder, which disposes of the adequacy of the advisement issue under Crim.P. 11. I also join in Justice Erickson’s concurrence in result and disagreement with Part III of the opinion.
We granted certiorari review on the question of “[wjhether the entry of a plea of guilty to a non-existent offense [attempted felony murder] is valid and whether the entry of such a plea extinguishes a defendant’s due process and procedural right to be advised of the nature of the offense.” Under existing Colorado law, upon the entry of a guilty plea, a defendant must be afforded the due process and procedural right to be advised of the nature of the charge and of the elements of the offense to which he is pleading and of the effects of his plea. Crim.P. 11(b)(1); People v. Gorniak, 197 Colo. 289, 593 P.2d 349 (1979); People v. Marsh, 183 Colo. 258, 516 P.2d 431 (1973); People v. Jones, 176 Colo. 61, 489 P.2d 596 (1971). It must logically follow that pleading to a non-existent crime violates the constitutional requirement that the defendant be aware of the elements of the offense and that he voluntarily and understanding^ acknowledges his guilt. People v. Hernandez, 44 Colo.App. 161, 614 P.2d 900 (1980). Moreover, the failure of a charging document to charge an offense is a jurisdictional deficiency, and a conviction obtained as a result of a plea to a non-existent offense must be reversed. *1341United States v. Edrington, 726 F.2d 1029 (5th Cir.1984); United States v. Meacham, 626 F.2d 503, 509-10 (5th Cir.1980); United States v. Broncheau, 597 F.2d 1260 (9th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 859, 100 S.Ct. 123, 62 L.Ed.2d 80.
In my view, attempted felony murder is a non-existent offense, and a plea of guilty to such a charge is invalid. The commission of a criminal attempt under section 18-2-101, 8 C.R.S. (1978), requires a mens rea element of intent to commit a specific crime. Allen v. People, 175 Colo. 113, 485 P.2d 886 (1971). In contrast, felony murder under section 18-3-102(1)(b), 8 C.R.S. (1978), substitutes participation in the underlying felony for the mens rea element otherwise required to support a murder charge. People v. Hickam, 684 P.2d 228 (Colo.1984); People v. Raymer, 626 P.2d 705 (Colo.App.1980), aff'd 662 P.2d 1066 (Colo.1983). All that is necessary for a felony murder conviction is that any death result in the course of any of the enumerated felonies listed under section 18-3-102(1)(b), 8 C.R.S. (1978). People v. Raymer. The participation required may be either the commission of the underlying felony or the attempt to commit the underlying felony.
An attempt to commit felony murder thus requires proof that the defendant intended to perpetrate an unintentional killing; a logical impossibility. The statutory definitions of the words “attempt” and “felony murder” are internally inconsistent and mutually exclusive.1
Because I believe attempted felony murder is a non-existent offense, the information fails to allege a cognizable criminal offense, and the district court was without jurisdiction to have accepted the plea of guilty. Accordingly, I do not believe the majority should have addressed the Crim.P. 11 advisement.

. Moreover, because felony murder, itself, contains an attempt element under certain circumstances, one can conceive of an attempt to attempt to commit the underlying felony. In Allen v. People, 175 Colo. 113, 485 P.2d 886 (1971), we held that there can be no crime of an attempt to commit an attempt. "Perhaps philosophers or metaphysicians can intend to attempt to act, but ordinary people intend to act, not to attempt to act.” Id. at 117, 485 P.2d at 888.