People v. Stewart
Rhode Island Supreme Court
663 A.2d 912 (1995)
Tracy Stewart (defendant), the mother of a two-month-old infant, went on a multi-day crack cocaine binge and failed to feed or care for the baby, who died of dehydration; the prosecution did not argue Stewart intentionally withheld care, but that her chronic drug use left her unable to remember whether she had fed the child. She was convicted of second-degree felony murder based on the state's child-neglect statute and of wrongfully permitting a child to be a habitual sufferer, and appealed, arguing the neglect statute was not an inherently dangerous felony that could support felony murder.
Whether the trier of fact must determine if the underlying felony is inherently dangerous in the manner and circumstances in which it was actually committed, in order to sustain a felony-murder conviction.