People v. Phillips 64 Cal.2d 524, 414 P.2d 553 (1966) At the hospital, the parents of a child with cancer were told that surgery was the only effective treatment. However, Phillips (a chiropractor), convinced the parents that he could cure the child. Phillips was a fraud and a quack. He charged the parents for his useless 'treatments' and the child died. Phillips was arrested and charged with felony murder. Felony murder is described as an inadvertent killing that occurs during the commission of another crime. At Trial, the Judge instructed the jury that Phillips was guilty of second-degree murder if they found he had committed the felony of grand theft, and that the child died as a proximate result. The Trial Court found Phillips guilty of second-degree murder. He appealed. The California Supreme Court reversed and remanded for a new trial. The California Supreme Court found that felony murder was only applicable to felonies that were "inherently dangerous to life and health." In this case, Phillips was accused of theft by deception, which is not a crime that normally gets people killed. See Regina v. Serne (16 Cox Crim.Cas. 311 (1887)). The Court found that felony murder is really a strict liability offense, and removes the requirement that Phillips had malice. Therefore it should only be applicable to cases in which the defendant was accused of a crime likely to cause death. On remand, the prosecution argued that malice was established because of Phillips conscious disregard of the risk to the child. (aka depraved indifference). Phillips was convicted of second-degree murder in the new trial.