Rose v. State

Brian Rose (defendant) reacquired his semiautomatic pistol from friends and, intending it as a joke, aimed it in his girlfriend Jackie Watkins's direction while telling her to get off the phone; the gun discharged and killed her. He was charged with second-degree murder under a felony-murder theory based on assault with a deadly weapon, and told investigators he never intended to shoot her. His pretrial motion to strike the felony-murder theory and apply the merger doctrine was denied, he was convicted, and his post-trial motions were also denied.