Caseflicks

Court of Appeals of Maryland • 1989

Bruce v. State

566 A.2d 103 | 317 Md. 642 | 1989 Md. LEXIS 159

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Takeaway

In short, this case holds that Maryland recognizes no crime of attempted felony murder: attempt requires an intent to kill, whereas felony murder does not.

Background

During a robbery of Barry Tensor's shoe store, Leon Bruce, who was masked and armed, demanded money from the cash registers. After Tensor said the second register was empty, Bruce pointed the gun at Tensor's face, said he was going to kill him, and shot him in the stomach. Tensor survived after five weeks of hospitalization.

Bruce was charged with attempted first-degree murder, armed robbery, and two handgun offenses. At his first trial, the jury acquitted him of attempted premeditated first-degree murder but convicted him of attempted first-degree felony murder and the other charges. The trial judge granted a new trial after concluding that Maryland did not recognize attempted felony murder.

At the second trial, the jury again convicted Bruce of attempted felony murder, armed robbery, and the handgun offenses. The court imposed a consecutive life sentence for attempted felony murder and merged the armed-robbery and one handgun conviction into that offense. The Court of Appeals granted certiorari before a decision by the Court of Special Appeals to decide whether attempted felony murder exists in Maryland.

Issues

Issue #1

Whether attempted felony murder is a crime in Maryland.

Holding

No. Maryland does not recognize attempted felony murder because an attempt requires a specific intent to commit the target offense, while felony murder does not require an intent to kill.

Reasoning

Maryland's first-degree murder provisions do not create separate crimes; they divide the common-law offense of murder into degrees for punishment. A killing committed during the perpetration or attempted perpetration of an enumerated felony, including robbery, is first-degree felony murder. The malice required for murder is supplied by the defendant's participation in the underlying felony.

To prove completed felony murder, the State must establish a specific intent to commit the underlying felony and that a death occurred during its perpetration or attempted perpetration. It need not prove that the defendant specifically intended to kill, acted with deliberation, or acted with premeditation.

A criminal attempt under Maryland common law is a specific-intent offense. It requires both an intent to commit the particular crime and an overt act that goes beyond mere preparation. Thus, attempt liability is available for intentional crimes, such as voluntary manslaughter, but not for offenses defined by an unintended result, such as involuntary manslaughter.

The same incompatibility defeats attempted felony murder. Felony murder permits a murder conviction without proof of an intent to cause death, but attempted murder requires an intent to bring about the result described by murder—the death of another. A person cannot logically attempt to achieve an unintended death.

The Court followed the majority rule in other jurisdictions, which holds that the felony-murder doctrine is not triggered unless a death occurs. Evidence that Bruce may have specifically intended to kill Tensor could potentially support an attempted intentional murder theory, but it could not sustain a conviction for the distinct, nonexistent offense labeled attempted felony murder. The conviction therefore had to be reversed.

Issue #2

What is the effect of reversing the attempted-felony-murder conviction on Bruce's remaining convictions and sentence?

Holding

The armed-robbery and handgun convictions remain valid, but the case must be remanded for sentencing on armed robbery because that conviction had been merged into the vacated attempted-felony-murder conviction.

Reasoning

The Court's holding concerned only the nonexistent offense of attempted felony murder. It did not disturb the jury's convictions for armed robbery and the handgun violations.

Because the trial court had merged the armed-robbery conviction into the attempted-felony-murder conviction, it had not imposed a separate sentence for armed robbery. Once the attempted-felony-murder judgment was reversed, the Circuit Court needed to impose sentence on the surviving armed-robbery count.

Dissents

Judge McAuliffe

Reasoning

Judge McAuliffe agreed that attempt requires a specific intent to commit the charged crime and that a felony-murder theory cannot convert every assault during an enumerated felony into attempted first-degree murder. But he emphasized that this case did not involve an unintended shooting: the jury was expressly instructed that it had to find Bruce specifically intended to kill Tensor, and its verdict necessarily made that finding.

In his view, once the State proves a specific intent to kill and a substantial step toward killing, the attempted murder may be classified as first degree when it occurs during an enumerated felony. Maryland's Legislature has long treated murders committed during those felonies as especially aggravated and therefore as first-degree murder. That aggravating feature, unlike felony murder's substitution of felony intent for an intent to kill, can operate consistently with attempt doctrine.

Judge McAuliffe relied on the principle that attempted homicide is graded according to the proof at trial. Because Bruce intentionally shot Tensor while committing an armed robbery, and because the same conduct would have been first-degree murder if Tensor had died, he would have affirmed the conviction for attempted first-degree murder.