phoenix helicopter crash - death liability?

[patbuddha]

[ QUOTE ]
He also said that how the helicopters crashed makes no difference, whether it was pilot negligence or not.

This provides a good example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_...rative_example

Notice numbers 7 and 9. A person is killed during the bank robbery by a random person, who is guilty of murder. However, since his action was due to the bank robbery, the robbers are also guilty of felony murder. So in this helicopter instance, it is possible that the pilots are guilty of negligence and the perp is guilty of felony murder.

[/ QUOTE ]
In the Wikipedia example, every death that will result in a felony murder charge was the result of the direct action of either law enforcement in trying to apprehend the bank robbers or the bank robbers in trying to evade apprehension. More specifically any shots fired by the robbers and the police that might have strayed and hit innocent bystanders. In the case of the kid who was killed, it was because she was run over by the guy in the getaway car.

Usually in order to convict someone of a crime, the prosecution has to prove that the defendant intended to commit that particular crime. This law belongs to a particular type of law that removes the requirement of a specific intent. It is akin to laws that attach a murder charge to drunk drivers who kill someone in an automobile accident. While the event that caused the death was not intentional, it is the recklessness of the person who deliberately got behind the wheel while impaired that is being substituted for intent.

The law is not a catch all for every death that happens concurrently with the event in the same place. For instance the bank manager who dies of an aortic dissection is not a felony murder because the connection to the robbery is too remote.

The crash of the two helicopters is not really related to the high speed chase. It was caused neither by any direct action of the person trying to get away nor the police giving chase. The only thing the event caused with respect to the helicopters was that it caught and held the attention of the people aboard them.

Under federal felony murder this would not meet the proximate cause requirement. The proximate cause was the failure of the two helicopter pilots to take one another into account.

Assuming Arizona applies the agency test it fails even more so. Under that only deaths caused by the agents of the crime are admitted. Since the crash was not caused by the guy in the car it doesn't apply to him here.