The court, in an unanimous decision, disagreed with Oakland County prosecutors' contention that first-degree child abuse should be considered a "general intent" crime. That would require proof only of Tarajee Maynor's intent to leave her two children in the car, and not specific proof that she intended to harm them.
I thought that if a death was to be prosecuted as Murder I under the Felony Murder Rule, that
- the death had to have been the proximate result of an enumerated felony (burglary, rape, armed robbery, arson, kidnapping, or other specified felony -- child endangerment?); and
- the only intent needed to be shown was the intent to commit the underlying felony, NOT to harm the proximate victim.
Having a hard time understanding the Michigan Supremes' decision.
I saw this on the 11:00 news last night. She left her children in the car for 3.5 hours while she had her hair done. I'm not even going to touch on the legalities that the case entails. What I want to know is this: in those 3.5 hours, didn't anyone notice the kids in the car? They must have been screaming to wake the dead for a while before they lost consciousness and died.
The whole story makes me want to barf.