People v. Henderson (1977)

In People v. Henderson (1977) 19 Cal. 3d 86, the Supreme Court held that felony false imprisonment is not an inherently dangerous felony that will support application of the felony-murder rule. ( Id. at p. 90.) The court noted that the determination of whether a felony is inherently dangerous depends upon the elements of the crime in the abstract rather than the particular facts of the case in which the issue is presented. ( Id. at p. 93.) Because the governing statute made false imprisonment a felony when it was committed by violence, menace, fraud or deceit, the court concluded that false imprisonment can be committed in ways not inherently dangerous to human life. ( Id. at pp. 93-94.) The court rejected the People's argument, based upon the reasoning of Nichols, that false imprisonment should support a felony-murder charge when it is committed by violence or menace. ( Id. at pp. 95-96.) As the court explained, the argument lacked merit because the "Legislature has not drawn any relevant distinctions between violence, menace, fraud, or deceit" with respect to false imprisonment, i.e., the Legislature has not distinguished types of false imprisonment in that manner. ( Id. at p. 95.) The court went on to say "any suggestion in Nichols inconsistent with the views expressed in Henderson should not be followed." ( Henderson, supra, 19 Cal. 3d at p. 96.)