Can a defendant be convicted of murder in the first degree only upon a finding of felonious intent?

"New York", United States of America

The following excerpt is from People v. Roper, 181 N.E. 88, 259 N.Y. 170 (N.Y. 1932):

These considerations must lead to a reversal in this case. The defendant can be convicted of murder in the first degree only upon a finding of felonious intent. The verdict of the jury imports a finding that the defendant participated in the commission of a robbery, as defined by the statute, for the trial judge charged that without such finding the verdict must be not guilty. Upon the trial of a defendant over the age of sixteen years, a finding of participation in a robbery, as defined by the statute, would import a finding of felonious intent, for robbery, in every degree, is a felony. Upon the trial of a child under the age of sixteen, the participation of a child in a robbery, or at least in a robbery in the second or third degrees, would not establish the guilt of a felony, but only of a minor offense characterized as juvenile delinquency. Hence, it is plain that the defendant's conviction rests upon no finding of guilt of a felony, and thus no finding of felonious intent, and the judgment must be reversed. People v. Moran, supra. That is true, even though no exception was taken to the charge which raises such question. A child under sixteen can be guilty of murder in the first or second degrees where he kills a man with felonious intent, but such felonious intent is not established without both proof and finding of intent to kill or of guilt of an independent felony during which the homicide occurred.

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