Evanchyk v. Stewart

In Evanchyk v. Stewart, 202 Ariz. 476, 480, P14, 47 P.3d 1114, 1118 (2002), the Arizona Supreme Court held, in response to certified questions from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, that "a defendant may not be convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder when that conviction is based only on the commission of felony murder." 202 Ariz. at 481, P18, 47 P.3d at 1119. The court was not asked to decide, and did not decide, whether a conviction for felony murder based on accomplice liability required proof that the defendant was "both an accomplice and a participant in the underlying felony." See id. at 480-81, PP14, 18, 47 P.3d at 1118-19. The issues in Evanchyk involved conspiracy liability, not accomplice liability. 202 Ariz. at 481, P18, 47 P.3d at 1119.