Felony murder. It’s a law that states that a person is guilty of murder if a death occurred during the course of the commission of a felony by that person, regardless of the foreseeability of that death, intent to cause harm, or the cause of that death. In short, if a person’s coconspirator tazes themselves in the nuts and has a fatal heart attack while that first person is part of that active conspiracy, that person is guilty of felony murder. If a little old lady falls down the stairs and breaks her neck running away from the burglar she saw leaving her neighbor’s apartment, that burglar is guilty of felony murder. If a con man’s victim, overwrought with grief at losing everything, shoots himself, that’s still felony murder. If the swat team shoots the wrong people because they can’t aim or they went to wrong address trying to stop a hostage situation, the original defendant is still guilty of felony murder.
if a conspiracy charge ties these defendants to everything that happened at the capital, there are four counts of felony murder that may be added to the charges. They are potentially in a lot of trouble, and appropriately so. Whether you incite or join a riot or an insurrection, you sign off on the idea that people might get hurt or die.