Commonwealth ex rel. Smith v. Myers
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
261 A.2d 550 (1970)
During an armed robbery, a gunfight broke out between the robbers, including Smith (defendant), and responding police, and a bystander was killed by an unclear shooter — possibly a robber, possibly a police officer. The trial judge instructed the jury it could convict the robbers of felony murder regardless of who actually fired the fatal shot, so long as the armed robbery proximately caused the death, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had upheld that instruction in a 1949 decision (Almeida) affirming a co-defendant's conviction; Smith later sought habeas relief on due-process grounds, and a reconstituted Pennsylvania Supreme Court reconsidered the issue.
Whether, in order to convict a defendant for felony murder, the victim must have been killed by the defendant, an accomplice, or one acting in furtherance of the felony.