Fotis Dulos and two other suspects were arrested on January 7, in connection with the Jennifer Dulos investigation.
Fotis is now facing three charges: felony murder, murder, and kidnapping.
At first glance it may seem that the charges are redundant, but they are actually very different.
FOX61 is here to explain the difference:
According to Connecticut penal codes a Sec. 53a-54c Felony murder is, “A person is guilty of murder when, acting either alone or with one or more persons, such person commits or attempts to commit robbery, home invasion, burglary, kidnapping, sexual assault in the first degree, aggravated sexual assault in the first degree, sexual assault in the third degree, sexual assault in the third degree with a firearm, escape in the first degree, or escape in the second degree and, in the course of and in furtherance of such crime or of flight therefrom, such person, or another participant, if any, causes the death of a person other than one of the participants, except that in any prosecution under this section, in which the defendant was not the only participant in the underlying crime, it shall be an affirmative defense that the defendant: (1) Did not commit the homicidal act or in any way solicit, request, command, importune, cause or aid the commission thereof; and (2) was not armed with a deadly weapon, or any dangerous instrument; and (3) had no reasonable ground to believe that any other participant was armed with such a weapon or instrument; and (4) had no reasonable ground to believe that any other participant intended to engage in conduct likely to result in death or serious physical injury.”
This means that if someone were to kidnap another person and that person died in their custody, the person could be charged for felony murder if the kidnapper’s victim dies as a result of being kidnapped. .
Someone facing a murder charge is accused to have intent to kill another person. The difference between felony murder, is the accused does not have to have the intent to kill the victim.
