Murder By Association
Convicted of murder, but a police officer pulled the trigger - how can that be? A little-known legal loophole in the US, the 'felony murder rule' is putting people behind bars for murders they didn't commit.
One morning in 2015, five teenagers broke into an empty house. After police intervened, one of the teens was shot by an officer and killed. The other 4 now faced a murder charge. "65 years [in prison] for a young guy, 15, who didn't kill no one?" exclaims one boy's mother. "I think the felony murder rule causes people to plead guilty to crimes that they didn't commit to avoid extremely harsh sentences. It's a big part of mass incarceration", explains legal professor Steven Drizin.
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