California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Mendoza, 23 Cal.4th 896, 4 P.3d 265, 98 Cal.Rptr.2d 431 (Cal. 2000):
Murder is a crime divided into degrees. Penal Code section 189 divides murder into murders of the first degree and murders of the second degree. First degree murders as defined in section 189 include what are commonly referred to as felony murders?-murders "committed in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate," certain other crimes, including robbery. As we have previously recognized, in many homicides the evidence before the jury would permit it to return either a verdict of first degree murder under a felony-murder theory or a second degree murder verdict, in addition to other possible verdicts, depending upon what evidence the jury finds credible. (People v. Jeter (1964) 60 Cal.2d 671, 674-676, 36 Cal.Rptr. 323, 388 P.2d 355.)
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