Commonwealth v. Brown

(concurring, with whom Lowy and Cypher, JJ., join). A rapist smothers a distraught child victim to silence her sobbing. To his surprise, the child dies. An armed robber enters a convenience store and threatens the store clerk with a handgun. The store clerk, frozen in fear, fails to comply with his demands. The frustrated armed robber vaults over the counter to empty the cash register, and in the process accidently discharges a fatal shot. See Binder, The Culpability of Felony Murder, 83 Notre Dame L. Rev. 965, 966 (2008) (Binder I). Neither of these offenders would be convicted of murder…