Define felony-murder rule: which statement is accurate?

• A. A death caused during the commission or attempted commission of a dangerous felony, regardless of the killer’s intent to kill.
• B. A death caused during any crime, regardless of felony status.
• C. A death caused by negligence during a felony.
• D. A death caused by self-defense.

Answer: (A)

The key idea is that death occurring during the commission or attempted commission of a dangerous felony can lead to murder liability regardless of whether the person intended to kill. The underlying crime creates a zone of malice—dangerous felonies inherently carry the risk of death, so a homicide that happens in the midst of that felony is treated as murder. The defendant’s mental state toward the death itself isn’t required to be intentional to kill; intent is inferred from the criminal act that created the risk.

This helps explain why this statement is the best fit: it captures that the death must be tied to a dangerous felony, and the killer need not have intended to kill. Other options don’t fit because a non-violent or non-felony crime wouldn’t automatically trigger murder liability under this rule, negligence isn’t enough to establish the mens rea, and self-defense is a separate justification, not what the felony-murder rule defines.