## Facts

- Two masked men (one white, one shorter Black man) robbed a McDonald’s in Chesapeake, Ohio around 1:15 a.m., demanded a safe combination, and stole an employee’s car when employees could not open the safe.
- The stolen car was later found in Huntington, West Virginia, missing a tape deck and tapes.
- About 30 minutes after the robbery, a Huntington police officer observed two men engaged in a suspected breaking and entering at a gasoline station and radioed for assistance.
- Another officer reported over the radio that he had the suspects; moments later, gunshots were heard and two men were seen running from the area.
- The assisting officer was found dead, having suffered multiple head blows and five gunshot wounds from his own service revolver.
- A nearby resident witnessed the shooting at close range and identified the shooter as Bobby Stacy.
- Witnesses reported two fleeing men consistent with the earlier descriptions.
- A Kenova police officer soon encountered and later identified Wilbert Mayle driving a car matching the suspect vehicle description shortly after learning of the officer’s killing.
- The State prosecuted Mayle for felony murder based on his participation with Stacy in the underlying felony and the killing during the ensuing events and flight.

## Issues

1. Whether a homicide occurring during escape and closely related events after a robbery/break-in falls within felony murder as part of a continuous transaction of the underlying felony.
2. Whether the evidence was sufficient to prove Mayle’s participation in the underlying felony and resulting felony-murder liability for the officer’s death.
3. Whether alleged trial errors required reversal of the conviction.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed Mayle’s felony-murder conviction.
- The court held the evidence permitted a rational jury to find Mayle participated in the underlying felony and that the killing occurred during an unbroken criminal episode, including immediate flight.
- The court rejected claims of reversible trial error and found no prejudice warranting a new trial.

## Legal Principles

- For felony murder, the underlying felony is not limited to the moment or location of the initial taking; it may include the immediate flight and closely connected events forming a continuous transaction.
- A killing committed by a participant during the shared felonious venture and escape may be treated as occurring “in the perpetration of” or “in the attempt to perpetrate” the felony for felony-murder liability.
- Sufficiency of the evidence is satisfied where the proof, viewed in favor of the verdict, allows a jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant’s participation in the felony and the homicide’s occurrence within the continuous criminal episode.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed Mayle’s felony-murder conviction, applying a continuous-transaction approach that treats killings during the immediate flight and closely connected events of a felony as occurring in the perpetration of the underlying offense.


State v. Mayle, 178 W. Va. 26, 357 S.E.2d 219 (W. Va. 1987)