Quote:
Originally Posted by afc wimbledon
It's common in many states in the US, any involvement at all in a crime that results in a death, even of the criminals, becomes felony murder.
It's an absurd law that means if a cop shoots a bank robber dead, his getaway driver gets charged with felony murder.
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Yeah I think its a silly law, mostly because the Judge has no latitude in terms of sentencing. Its either the Death Penalty or Life without parole.
I believe that there needs to be a mechanism to link. The brother isn't innocent, he was part of the planning and was there as backup (He was armed) and was probably there to drive the getaway vehicle so there has to be some kind of charge that links to the main crime. But once Felony Murder is charged, its pretty easy to prove "we're you involved in the crime that lead to the murder?". It seems as I read about it that the only way that you get out of it is if the victim is not the murderer and you're willing to testify against him in exchange for a plea bargain deal.
I tend to think that's the intent of the law.