State v. Morin

I cannot agree with the majority’s opinion that the element of causation, which differentiates the greater offense of felony murder from the lesser offenses of first degree burglary and first degree robbery, was not “sufficiently in dispute” to permit the jury consistently to find the defendant innocent of felony murder but guilty of burglary or robbery. Although the majority acknowledges that “[t]he state’s evidence justified a conviction for first degree burglary, first degree robbery, or both,” it goes on to hold that the defendant was not entitled to instructions on those offenses on the…