People v. Hansen
California Supreme Court
885 P.2d 1022 (1994)
- Written by Walter Machniki, JD
Facts
Hansen (defendant) gave Echaves $40 to go into an apartment building and obtain some crystal meth for him. Echaves took the money and fled the scene instead. Hansen became enraged and picked up a handgun on his way to Echaves’s apartment to confront Echaves. Hansen drove up in front of Echaves’s apartment and began firing shots with the handgun, striking and killing Diane, a thirteen-year-old child inside the apartment. Hansen was charged with and convicted of second-degree felony murder, a crime defined as a killing that occurred during the commission or attempted commission of a felony inherently dangerous to human life. The underlying felony was discharging a firearm at a dwelling. Hansen appealed, and the court of appeals affirmed the conviction, holding that discharging a firearm at a dwelling was a felony inherently dangerous to human life. The court of appeals also held that the discharging of a firearm into a dwelling did not merge into the second-degree murder charge under the merger doctrine. Hansen appealed to the California supreme court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (George, J.)
Concurrence (Werdegar, J.)
Dissent (Mosk, J.)
Dissent (Kennard, J.)
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