State v. Blair

Defendant petitions for review from a Court of Appeals opinion affirming his conviction for, among other crimes, felony murder. The Court of Appeals concluded that the felony murder statute, ORS 163.115(1)(b), does not require that the state allege and prove that a defendant acted with a culpable mental state in causing the victim’s death; rather, the defendant’s commission or attempted commission of the underlying felony establishes, as a matter of law, the requisite mens rea with respect to the victim’s death. State v. Blair, 230 Or App 36, 56, 214 P3d 47 (2009). We allowed defendant’s…