Should California Restrict The Felony Murder Rule?

This is PBS midday edition. I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. Several hundred people in California prisons are serving time for murder even though they never killed anyone. And it's not because they were wrongly convicted. They've been tried and convicted under the felony murder rule which says if you're involved in a serious felony and a death results you are liable for that death. Opponents of the rule say it's resulted in accomplices lookouts and getaway drivers getting the same or sometimes harsher sentences than the actual killer. A bill now moving through the California legislature would restrict the felony murder rule. Joining me by Skype is Abby Van Syckel a reporter with The Marshall Project a nonprofit news organization that covers the U.S. criminal justice system. And Abby welcome to the program. Hi. Thanks so much for having me. Can you explain to us the origin of the felony murder rule. How did it come about the origins of it are a little bit murky. It's been taught to law students over the decades that it came from British common law that it's been with us since the founding of the United States and that it's been interwoven into our criminal justice system since there's a scholar who's focused a lot on felony murder who tried to trace back that Origin and and actually concluded that felony murder actually came up through the states as states were trying to codify their criminal laws in the 18 20s that felony murder. The idea of it started to be put into state statutes and that is it existed in almost every state including California. What's the rationale for charging someone with murder even though they didn't do it and they had no knowledge of it beforehand. Well prosecutors who are in favor of the felony murder rule often talk about the idea of holding people responsible for a death that occurs during a serious felony with Yates. Yet that for example if a group of people are going to do a burglary or a robbery that they should know that there's a possibility that someone could die during that incident that people need to be held accountable for dangerous activities that could result in a death. Now in your story you write about the case of California teenager Shawn Kalifa. Tell us about him. So he's serving time in prison now under the felony murder doctrine. He had just turned 15. He was living in a small town outside of L.A. and he and a group of other young guys had gone to a neighbor's house. It was an elderly home owner who was 77 years old and that he stood at the back of the house and stood guard as two of the guys went inside and inside the house these two guys beat the home owner. He later died of his injuries. Sean Kalifa and this is according to court records and to what Shawn told me is that he stood outside home he had gone into the kitchen grabbed some chocolates from a box of chocolates in the kitchen and didn't realize that the home owner had been killed. He then got into a car with with these other guys. And you know eventually goes back to his house where he lived with his mom and that the home owner died and he was later charged and convicted of murdering the homeowner. And this is first degree murder. He's in for life right. Yes. His 25 to life sentence. So yes he was charged with murder. How often are prosecutors in California actually using the felony murder rule to charge defendants. You know one of the issues with reporting on this is trying to nail that down. The state does not collect data on people who were convicted under the felony murder doctrine. One of the reasons is that it's a doctrine it's not a specific charge. So. So it's hard to identify you know precisely how many people some advocacy groups who are in favor of narrowing felony murder did a survey of prisoners and they found that between 400 and 800 people likely as an estimate are currently serving time in California prisons who were not actually the killer. So the people who are in a similar situation to Sean Kalifa that's that's their estimate but we don't know exactly but there is now a bill making its way through the California legislature that would put limits on felony murder what exactly would it do. Right. So this is SB 14 37. It is moving to the legislature. It's passed the California Senate and is now in the Assembly. This bill would limit responsibility under felony murder to people who basically three classes of people if you were the actual killer intended to kill or acted as a major player with reckless indifference to human life those are the categories of people who who could now be charged under this doctrine. So with the idea being that excludes people who were the you know the getaway drivers or the lookouts who did not participate in the killing didn't go with the intent to kill anyone and you know weren't weren't a player not only in California but there's been a move in several states to get rid of or toned down felony murder laws. But prosecutors and law enforcement generally want to keep it. Why do they want to keep it. So the main opposition to changing felony murder in California has been from the District Attorneys Association and some law enforcement groups. And what they've said about the California bill is that they're concerned about retroactivity basically that the California bill not only would help people going forward but it would help people like Sean Kalifa who are serving time in prison now and prosecutors groups have said that that's going to be too much of a burden on the court system that it will be really expensive that for people who took plea deals. It's going to be hard to re-examine their cases because there's not going to be a long trial record. And so those are some of the reasons given in California more generally there's an idea that the people should be held responsible when they participate in a dangerous felony and someone dies. How far along has this bill gotten so passed the Senate it just passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee its next step is that it goes to the Appropriations Committee if it gets out of there it would head to the Assembly for a floor vote. And if it passes that it goes to the governor's desk. I've been speaking with Abby Van Syckel a reporter with The Marshall Project. Abbi thank you very much. Yeah. Thanks so much for having me. The San Diego County district attorney's office has commented on the effort to reform California's felony murder rule. You can read the statement on our Web site at PBS dot org.