LA jury finds man charged with second-degree murder of Trader Joe's employee guilty
cbsnews.com
A man who never fired the fatal shot was convicted of murder because California law holds fleeing felons responsible for deaths their chase triggers.
Proximate Cause DoctrineFelony Murder RuleProvocative Act Murder DoctrineMoral Responsibility
Theory Briefing
- The shooter who killed Trader Joe's employee Melyda Corado was a police officer, yet the fleeing suspect faced the murder charge.
- California's provocative act murder doctrine can assign liability to someone whose dangerous flight causes another person's death, even by a third party.
- The case tests how far criminal responsibility can stretch when the defendant's actions set a deadly chain of events in motion.
- Juries must weigh whether the defendant's conduct — not the officer's trigger pull — was the true legal cause of Corado's death.