Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
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.
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I wouldn't mind if it applied when the criminals killed someone in a criminal act, it's the concept that you can be tried with murder (and there was a sad tale in the guardian a few months ago of exactly this circumstance) if you and a cohort in a burglary get caught by the home owner, he shoots and kills one of the burglars, he doesn't get charged with anything (which is fair enough) but the surviving burglar is charged with felony murder and sentenced to death, as I recall they had no weapon, no plan to hurt anyone, just a couple of idiot teenagers that were drunk at the time.