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State v. Mitchell
Felony murder statutes often unnumerate, that is, expressly list, the felonies that can be predicates, such as robbery. They often include, however, a catch-all provision phrased as "or any other inherently dangerous felony." For our purposes, we will consider first-degree felony murder those murders in which the felony is enumerated, and second-degree those in which the catch-all appears.
Mitchell shows that there are two tests used by different states, the abstract approach and the factual approach. Please understand how each test works and what the prosecution must prove under each of them. The Mitchell case cites many other cases that I have left in, although seemingly repetitive, because they serve as helpful examples of how the two tests work under different factual scenarios.
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