You may be right but "felony murder" isn't necessarily a federal offense. Many, if not all, states have some form of felony murder in their statutes.
I am only challenging your use of that term. I haven't heard or read anything to suggest the crimes in question would be tried by the Feds, as you suggest, but I don't pretend to know that jurisdictional detail.
Digging a little deeper... First Degree Murder is a Felony
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18 U.S. Code § 1111 - Murder
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(a)
Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Every murder perpetrated by poison, lying in wait, or any other kind of willful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated killing; or committed in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate, any arson, escape, murder, kidnapping, treason, espionage, sabotage, aggravated sexual abuse or sexual abuse,
child abuse, burglary, or robbery; or perpetrated as part of a
pattern or practice of assault or torture against a
child or children; or perpetrated from a premeditated design unlawfully and maliciously to effect the death of any human being other than him who is killed, is murder in the first degree.
Any other murder is murder in the second degree.
(b)
Within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States,
Whoever is guilty of murder in the first degree shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for life;
Whoever is guilty of murder in the second degree, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
(c)For purposes of this section—
(1)
the term “
assault” has the same meaning as given that term in section 113;
(2)the term “
child” means a person who has not attained the age of 18 years and is—
(A)
under the perpetrator’s care or control; or
(B)
at least six years younger than the perpetrator;
(3)
the term “
child abuse” means intentionally or knowingly causing death or
serious bodily injury to a
child;
(4)
the term “
pattern or practice of assault or torture” means
assault or
torture engaged in on at least two occasions;
(5)
the term “
serious bodily injury” has the meaning set forth in section 1365; and
(6)
the term “
torture” means conduct, whether or not committed under the color of law, that otherwise satisfies the definition set forth in section 2340(1).
Felony murder is the killing of a human being during the commission of a felony. It sounds simple, but the actual application of the rule can get complicated. Learn more at LawInfo.
www.lawinfo.com
You won't find the term "felony murder" in most criminal statutes. The unnamed term is generally just one of the definitions under a first-degree murder statute. First-degree murder is called a felony murder when a human being is killed during the commission of a felony. It's a simple concept, but the details of when felony murder applies can be complicated. Below is a detailed examination of the application of the felony murder rule.
Felony Murder Doctrine: Who Can Be Charged?
It's possible to be charged with
first-degree murder under the felony murder rule even if there's no intent to kill. All that's necessary is the participation in the commission of a felony, where a death occurs during that felony, even if the defendant wasn't the one who killed the victim. Typical situations include:
Under US federal code....first degree murder is a felony