[Dante84]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Wow, that's a strange jurisdiction.

It's the felony murder doctrine, but usually there's a grey line test. If a co-conspirator dies while you're in the act of committing a violent felony, that death isn't imparted onto you. I guess that jurisdiction didn't adopt that rule (and some don't have the felony murder rule at all).

If, however, they were robbing a convenience store and someone buying a gallon of milk at the back had a heart attack and died from the shock, then they're going to get charged with first degree felony murder for it.

If you're on the same side of the line as the person that died (i.e. a co-conspirator), they usually don't charge you. If, however, someone on the other side of that line dies due to your conduct in the commission of a felony, intende or no, you're pretty much screwed.

It's not quite the same as my example as it is an actual charge that's codified on it's own, but it's clearly another example of taking your victim as you found them.

To be clear, this wasn't in my family member's jurisdiction, just a national case that we discussed.