What are the requirements of section 1170.95, subdivision (c) of the California Criminal Code for a jury to convict a defendant of first degree murder under the Felony Murder theory?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Fitzhugh, C089261 (Cal. App. 2021):

We need not conclusively determine the requirements of section 1170.95, subdivision (c) because any error in the trial court's procedures would be harmless even under the more stringent beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard. (Chapman v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 18, 24 [17 L.Ed.2d 705, 710-711].) As we noted in Barnes, the jury found the robbery-murder special circumstance true for the murder count. For the special circumstances under section 190.2, subdivision (17)(A), the jury was instructed with CALCRIM No. 703 as follows: "If you decide that a defendant is guilty of first degree murder under a Felony Murder theory but was not the actual killer, then, when you consider the special circumstance of Murder in the Commission of a Robbery, you must

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also decide whether the defendant acted either with intent to kill or with reckless indifference to human life.

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