Bill to overhaul felony murder charges rejected by Alabama House committee

A police car behind crime scene tape. (Getty Images)

The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday rejected a bill that would have prevented a person from being charged with murder if the victim was involved in a crime.

“We are still going to continue to work,” Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, the sponsor of the bill, said in an interview after the meeting. “I think there is some, as reflected in the amendment and discussion, the ability to find a compromise, and we are just going to continue to work towards that. I think more of a traditional definition of what accomplice liability looks like will create a more just result.”

The committee hosted a special hearing on the bill, HB 32 , two weeks ago. Akiesha Anderson, policy and advocacy director for Alabama Arise, said the prevailing criminal justice concept in Alabama is that people can be charged with felony murder when they are simply getting placed at the scene of the crime and not for being directly involved in the criminal act.

“Currently, Alabama is one of 14 states that subscribe to the proximate cause theory when applying the felony murder rule,” she said during the public hearing. “This is the minority approach across the country as a vast majority of states subscribe to an agency theory instead.”

Anderson said that can lead to racial disparities in the criminal justice system, with Black  Americans more likely to be killed by police than whites.

“The proximate cause theory too often leads to absurd and racially disparate results,” Anderson said.

Matt Casey, the district attorney for Shelby County, opposed the bill. He said if two people attempt to rob a bank, and one of the individuals shoots a teller, prosecutors are not able to charge the other perpetrator with murder.

“We are armed, we go in together to commit a robbery, and when you have guns, you rob people, bad things can happen,” Casey said. “He shoots someone, I can’t be held accountable for that.”

Casey said the statute is a tool for prosecutors to use to hold people accountable for the underlying crime of robbing an establishment even if they are not directly connected in the death of the individual.

Rep. Ontario Tillman, D-Birmingham, presented another scenario, with the bank teller killing one of the two assailants during the crime. In that case, the surviving perpetrator could be charged in the death of the co-conspirator as well.

“In that scenario, who is the true victim?” Tillman asked.

“We see many times when there is an older person, or a more experienced person in the criminal world, convincing a younger person to get involved in something like this,” Casey said. “That is why we believe it should stay the way it is.”

Rep. Ben Robbins, R-Sylacauga, proposed an amendment that allows the defendant to request immunity from the court if the person did not present a weapon and if the person did not understand what was happening. The judge would then decide whether to grant it.

In the end it was not enough to convince members of the committee to move forward with the legislation.

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