Could the South Bend fatal shooting be similar to the Elkhart Four?
Two teens are charged with felony murder after a botched robbery ended with the death of 46-year-old Felipe Gutierrez. Only ABC57 News spoke with a lawyer at Monterrosa Law Group who says as long as a felony results in death the felony murder charge is applicable.
The fatal South Bend shooting might sound like a similar situation we had in 2012 with the Elkhart Four, but Attorney Cecilia Lopez Monterrosa explained that there are many differences in these cases.
She says the law was written for cases like the fatal South Bend shooting, where a felony results in the death of a person, not necessarily for the Elkhart Four case.
Back in 2012 two 16-year-olds, one 18-year-old and a 21-year-old, from Elkhart County, decided to break into a home.
Inside the home was Rodney Scott, who shot at the males several times, killing 21-year-old Danzele Johnson.
At first, the four males were charged with felony murder. After investigation the murder charges were overturned in September of 2015. The males were re-sentenced in January of last year to burglary charges.
“In the Elkhart Four, the facts of that case included four individuals, some of them minors, that went into what they believed to be a vacant home without any deadly weapons, but it wasn’t sufficient for felony murder because there was no foreseeable danger or danger of death,” says Monterrosa.
17- year-old Qualan Jones will be back in court on June 7 and 17-year-old George Lee Watson is set for June 9.