## Facts

- Jonathan Earl Stamp and Michael John Koory entered the offices of General Amusement Company armed with a gun and a blackjack.
- They forced employees to move to the front of the premises and compelled the victims to lie on the floor while money was taken.
- Stamp confronted and physically guided the owner, Carl Honeyman, who had serious preexisting heart disease and appeared frightened and pale.
- The robbery lasted roughly 10–15 minutes; the robbers fled through the rear and warned the victims to remain on the floor for five minutes.
- Within minutes, Honeyman showed acute distress (shortness of breath and chest pain) and collapsed.
- Honeyman died approximately 15–20 minutes after the robbery; medical evidence attributed death to a heart attack precipitated by the stress of the robbery.
- Billy Dean Lehman acted as the getaway driver; all defendants were later apprehended.
- A jury convicted defendants of first-degree robbery and first-degree murder based on California’s felony-murder rule; defendants appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether sufficient evidence supported a finding that the robbery caused Honeyman’s death despite his preexisting heart disease.
2. Whether California’s felony-murder rule applies when a robbery victim dies from a stress-induced heart attack without physical injury.
3. Whether felony murder under Penal Code § 189 requires foreseeability of the death or an intent to kill.
4. Whether alleged instructional and evidentiary errors (including admission of statements) required reversal.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed the first-degree murder and robbery convictions.
- The court held there was sufficient evidence that the robbery stress precipitated the fatal heart attack, satisfying causation.
- The court held that, under Penal Code § 189, a killing in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of robbery constitutes first-degree murder even if accidental or negligent.
- The court rejected defendants’ argument that felony-murder liability required foreseeability of the victim’s death.
- The court found no reversible error in the challenged instructions or evidentiary rulings.

## Legal Principles

- Under California Penal Code § 189, a killing committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of an enumerated felony (including robbery) is first-degree murder, whether the killing is intentional or accidental.
- Felony murder does not require proof that the death was foreseeable or that the defendant intended to kill once the prosecution proves the felony and a killing resulting from it.
- A defendant takes the victim as found; a victim’s preexisting condition does not relieve liability if the felony hastened or contributed to death.
- The “in the perpetration of” requirement is satisfied where the felony and death are part of a continuous transaction with close temporal and causal connection.

## Conclusion

The court upheld felony-murder convictions where a robbery precipitated a victim’s fatal heart attack, holding that Penal Code § 189 imposes first-degree murder liability for killings caused during robbery without requiring intent to kill or foreseeability, and that the victim’s heart disease did not break causation.


People v. Stamp, 2 Cal. App. 3d 203 (Ct. App. 1969)