State v. Frye

Murphy, C. J., concurs in the judgments and filed a concurring opinion at page 725 infra.

This Court in Newton v. State, 280 Md. 260, 373 A. 2d 262 (1977), held that when a defendant is charged with both murder and a felony arising from the same transaction, and is convicted of murder based upon the felony murder doctrine, the underlying felony merges into the murder conviction. The two cases now before us involve the application of the Newton holding under circumstances where we do not know whether the jury’s finding of murder was premised upon the felony murder doctrine.

I

Before turning to…