People v. Heffington

In People v. Heffington (1973) 32 Cal. App.3d 1, the Court disapproved the use of the portion of CALJIC No. 8.11 relating to felony murder, "by parity of reasoning with People v. Ireland (1969) 70 Cal.2d 522, 538-539. . . which teaches that the court should not tell the jury that malice may be implied from a killing perpetrated in the course of a felonious assault; . . . As a matter of abstract law, second degree murder may result as the byproduct of a dangerous felony. . . even though the accused does not harbor an actual intent to kill. When this abstract proposition is injected into a trial for assault with intent to commit murder, it dilutes the demand for proof of specific intent to commit murder. It permits the jury to substitute a finding of relatively undifferentiated assaultive intent for the specific intent to murder which is a vital element of the crime." (32 Cal.App.3d at pp. 12-13.)