People v. Fuller
Court of Appeals of California, Fifth District
150 Cal.Rptr. 515 (1978)
Fuller (defendant) and an accomplice burgled four empty vans in a car lot, stealing spare tires, and were observed rolling the tires to their car by a police officer; fleeing in their vehicle, they ran a red light and struck another car, killing its driver. Fuller was charged with murder under the felony-murder rule, and the trial court struck the murder charges, reasoning the underlying burglary was not the kind of dangerous felony warranting the rule's application.
Whether the felony-murder rule applies to a death caused while fleeing from a burglary that was itself neither violent nor inherently dangerous in its actual commission, when the legislature has statutorily designated burglary as a predicate felony.