Capital Murder

Texas executes more individuals than any other state. Portions of the Texas statute are reprinted below:

Texas Penal Code Annotated Section 19.03. Capital Murder

(1)   A person commits an offense if the person commits murder as defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) [intentionally, knowingly or a dangerous act committed during or in furtherance of a felony] and:

(a)  the person murders a peace officer or fireman who is acting in . . . official duty and who the person knows is a peace officer or fireman;

(b)  the person intentionally commits the murder in the course of . . . kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or retaliation or terroristic threat. . . .

(c)  the person commits the murder for remuneration or the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder. . . .

(d) the person commits the murder while escaping . . . from a penal institution;

(e)  the person, while incarcerated in a penal institution murders another . . . who is employed in the institution . . . with the intent to establish, maintain, or participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;

(f)  the person . . . while incarcerated for an offense [of murder or capital murder] murders another; or while serving a sentence of life imprisonment . . . murders another. . . .

(g)  the person murders more than one person . . . during the same criminal transaction . . . or the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of conduct. . . .

(h)  the person murders an individual under six years of age.

(i)   An offense under this section is a capital felony

 

Felony Murder

The State of Washington provides that a killing committed in the course of, in furtherance of, or in flight from robbery, rape, burglary, and kidnapping constitutes first-degree murder subject to life imprisonment. Wash. Rev. Code § 9A.32.030. The second-degree murder statute contains the same text as the first-degree statute, but does not limit liability to specific felonies. Note the defenses listed in the Washington law.

Washington Revised Code Section 9A.32.050. Murder in the Second Degree

(1)  A person is guilty of murder in the second degree when:

(a)  . . .

(b)  He or she commits or attempts to commit any felony . . . and, in the course of and in furtherance of such crime or in the immediate flight therefrom, he or she, or another participant, causes the death of a person other than one of the participants; except that in any prosecution . . . in which the defendant was not the only participant in the underlying crime, if established by the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence, it is a defense that the defendant:

(i)    Did not commit the homicidal act or in any way solicit, request, command, . . . cause or aid the commission thereof; and

(ii)   Was not armed with a deadly weapon, or any instrument . . . capable of causing death or serious physical injury; and

(iii)  Had no reasonable grounds to believe that any other participant was armed . . .; and

(iv)  Had no reasonable grounds to believe that any other participant intended to engage in conduct likely to result in death or serious physical injury.