What constitutes a first degree felony murder?

Generally, malice is an essential element of murder. ( 187.) Malice may be either express or implied. It is express "when there is manifested a deliberate intention to unlawfully take away the life of a fellow creature." ( 188, subd. (a)(1).) It is implied "when no considerable provocation appears, or when the circumstances attending the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart." (Id. at subd. (a)(2).) Implied malice has "both a physical and a mental component. The physical component is satisfied by the performance of 'an act, the natural consequences of which are dangerous to life.' . . . The mental component is the requirement that the defendant 'knows that his conduct endangers the life of another and . . . acts with a conscious disregard for life.'" (People v. Chun (2009) 45 Cal.4th 1172, 1181.)

Before S.B. 1437, the felony-murder rule and the natural and probable consequences doctrine were exceptions to the actual malice requirement. The felony-murder rule made "a killing while committing certain felonies murder without the necessity of further examining the defendant's mental state." (People v. Chun, supra, 45 Cal.4th at p. 1182.) First degree felony murder was "a killing during the course of a felony specified in [Penal Code] section 189, such as rape, burglary, or robbery." (Ibid.) Second degree felony murder was "an unlawful killing in the course of the commission of a felony that is inherently dangerous to human life but is not included among the felonies

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