Wooden v. Commonwealth

In this appeal, the question for our determination is whether under Virginia’s felony-murder statute, Code § 18.2-32, 1 one of the perpetrators of an armed robbery may be convicted of felony-murder for the killing of a co-felon by a resisting victim of the robbery.

Patricia Ann Wooden pleaded not guilty to indictments charging her with the felony-murders of Walter Wallace Randolph, Jr. and Richard Earl Anthony. Randolph, the victim of a robbery in which Wooden participated, was killed during the robbery. Before his death, Randolph killed Anthony, one of the robbers.

Wooden’s first jury trial…