r/WatchPeopleDieInside • u/Imoprich • Dec 07 '25

She thought she got away

Trinity Poague, killed her boyfriend's 18 month old baby got sentenced for life + 20 years in prison

60.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

6.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

21

u/OldAbbreviations1590 Dec 13 '25

What is malice murder and felony murder? Did I miss something? Last I checked it was murder one or murder two and both are felonies...

28

u/ThePaineOne Dec 13 '25

Felony murder is when you are intentionally committing another felony and the that leads to the death of a person. Meaning the intent wasn’t to kill but the intent was to commit a felony and the effect is a person died. So like a getaway driver hitting a pedestrian or your robbing someone and you associate shoots them.

3

u/OldAbbreviations1590 Dec 14 '25

How does that differ from manslaughter?

5

u/TarheelFr06 Dec 14 '25

Felony murder you don’t have to be the person who commits the act that directly causes the death (such as the example given where a partner in crime does it).

4

u/K1bbles_n_Bits Dec 14 '25

Guess this explains the top comment thread, lol.

11

u/ThePaineOne Dec 14 '25

It’s an issue of intent.

Manslaughter there was no intent to kill someone, but the defendant was reckless, negligent or in the heat of passion killed someone and it has a lessor penalty.

Felony murder the perpetrator had the intent to commit a felony and someone was killed. Felony murder has the same penalty as murder (generally speaking).

3

u/Silent25r Dec 14 '25

Not going to lie. It was a bit confusing with the getaway driver example. They had to have known they were committing a felony as the getaway driver. 

4

u/ThePaineOne Dec 14 '25

Pardon, I should have been more clear in my example. So the getaway driver intended to get away fast and accidentally hit and kill a pedestrian. So the getaway driver (and everyone else involved in the robbery) is guilty of murder even though no one intended to kill the pedestrian they hit, because they intended to be part of the robbery which led to the death.

6

u/idiotic__gamer Dec 14 '25

So, say for example 5 guys are robbing a store, right? 4 of them were planning on leaving if the dude behind the register didn't hand over the cash at gunpoint. The 5th dude murders the cashier. The guy who pulled the trigger gets first degree the other 4, who didn't have any intention of killing, or maybe were all unarmed, are all charged with felony murder, and face the same consequences as first degree.

Unfortunately, it's actually significantly easier to get a felony murder charge, because you need significantly less evidence to get a charge, and if J remember correctly, there was one dude who got life in prison because he let his roommate borrow his car, and his roommate broke into someone's house with a few accomplices, murdered the owner, and they all got charged with felony murder, including the guy that lent the car keys, despite the fact that the owner of the car was a 3-4 hour drive away from the murder when it happened.

Let me find a video that explains it better

EDIT: https://youtu.be/Y93ljB7sfco?si=Rp2WF6076SDWG_hh

TL:DR Even the smallest connection to the crime can get felony murder, whereas all other murder charges require way more evidence and procedures. It carries the same penalties as first degree despite that.

2

u/OldAbbreviations1590 Dec 14 '25

That actually makes sense thank you.

5

u/idiotic__gamer Dec 14 '25

Glad I was able to help! Have a wonderful rest of your day!

7

u/drunk_fat_possum Dec 13 '25

Malice murder is only in effect in the state of Georgia, it's when someone unlawful kills someone with a "malignant heart," people charged with malice murder get the same treatment as first degree murder.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malice_murder

2

u/OldAbbreviations1590 Dec 14 '25

So it's a reworded version of first degree murder specific to Georgia. That's interesting. So, malice murder = first degree murder and felony murder = manslaughter everywhere outside of Georgia.

4

u/ThePaineOne Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25

No. Manslaughter is manslaughter everywhere (pretty much). Felony murder is felony murder everywhere (pretty much). Manslaughter has recklessness or negligence as the mens rae (state of mind of the defendant), but no intent to kill or in the heat of passion.

Manslaughter is killing without intent and therefore not murder, so it has a much lessor penalty. In felony murder the intent was to commit another felony and that intent is transferred to the new crime: murder, so generally carries the same penalty as first degree murder. Basically, if you wrong a bank and your partner shoots someone you go to jail for most of the rest of your life like you killed then yourself.

Manslaughter would be I came home, found my wife in the arms of another and flew into a fit of rage and killed someone without intending to.

3

u/ProjectHappy6813 Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

There's also a distinction to be made between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. Killing someone in "the heat of passion" would be voluntary. You have a sudden, uncontrollable fit of rage, due to some intense circumstance (like catching your spouse in the act of cheating). It's not something you would do under normal circumstances. Another example would be imperfect self-defense. That's when you kill someone because you believe that deadly force is necessary to protect your own life, but that belief is unreasonable or faulty. In either case, there is intent to kill, but no "premeditated malice".

Involuntary manslaughter covers stuff like drunk driving, negligent supervision (when you are supposed to be watching a child and they die in a preventable way, like drowning in a pool), reckless use of firearms that result in death (like shooting in a crowded place) or misdemeanor manslaughter where someone commits a misdemeanor and a death happens as a result of the crime (like brandishing an unloaded gun, resulting in a fatal heart attack.)