# Mantraps and the felony murder rule.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mantraps-and-the-felony-murder-rule/557820>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 20, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mantraps-and-the-felony-murder-rule/557820 "2010-10-20T21:28:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mantraps-and-the-felony-murder-rule/557820/21 "2010-10-21T07:53:29Z")

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> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> I believe the prosecutor would have to show that Terry’s break-in had some effect on Liam’s actions, even if it was unintentional. If, for example, the sound of Terry breaking a window woke Liam up and caused him to stumble accidentally into his mantrap, the prosecutor would argue that if Terry hadn’t broken in, Liam would have remained asleep and lived.

Right. Well, in the hypothetical, I tried to make it clear that Liam only stumbled into his trap due to Terry’s break-in, so I suppose that would make Terry guilty of killing Liam due to the felony murder rule. Thanks again. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Ocardowin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ccd318/32.png) [@Ocardowin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ocardowin)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mantraps-and-the-felony-murder-rule/557820/22 "2010-10-21T14:13:59Z")

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It’s hard to tell how Montana would rule without digging through the case law.

But I think a prosecutor would have a very hard time with proximate cause.

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**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mantraps-and-the-felony-murder-rule/557820/23 "2010-10-21T18:31:20Z")

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> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> No. Let’s say two burglars, Al and Bob, are breaking into a house. The homeowner, Chuck, shoots and kills Al. Bob can then be charged with Al’s murder even though Chuck killed him because the cause of the shooting was Bob’s burglary. The fact that Al was also committing that same burglary does not exonerate Bob.

The show 48 hours had a similar case where “A” and “B” went to the home of “C” to sell a gun. C decided to rob them and started shooting with an AK-47. As A and B are fleeing, A accidentally shoots and kills B. C was charged with B’s murder.

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mantraps-and-the-felony-murder-rule/557820/24 "2010-10-23T00:19:16Z")

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[Irony?](http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/879944--elderly-quebec-man-dies-after-apparently-triggering-elaborate-home-booby-trap)

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