Northrop

ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

Petitioner Sheila D. Northrop, a California state prisoner at the California Institution for Women at Frontera, is serving a sentence of 15 years to life, imposed on September 25, 1980. She has filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. section 2254 . Petitioner was convicted of one count of a violation of California Penal Code section 273a(l), felony child endangering. That conviction also served as the underlying felony for her conviction of one count of second degree felony-murder.

Petitioner contests the felony-murder jury instruction given at trial. That instruction permitted the jury to find her guilty of murder if they found that she had had the specific intent to commit the underlying felony of child endangerment.

Petitioner challenged the instruction both at trial and on appeal. She contended that the instruction violated California’s “merger” rule as enunciated in People v. Ireland, 70 Cal.2d 522, 538-40 , 75 Cal.Rptr. 188 , 450 P.2d 580 (1969). Ireland held that in order to support a conviction of felony-murder the underlying felony must have an independent felonious intent. If no such separate…