In a nutshell, four kids broke into a house looking for video games. One 16yo had a gun and may have fired a shot (cop's body camera was off,) he ran out when the cops arrived, getting shot and killed in the process. Queue felony murder rule on the other three.
https://reason.com/2023/04/05/he-got-30 ... is-friend/He Got 30 Years for Murder After a Cop Killed His Friend
Lakeith Smith's case epitomizes the issues with the "felony murder" doctrine.
Lakeith Smith has been behind bars since he was 15 years old. He will be there for quite a while longer, having been convicted of murder in 2018. The catch: Prosecutors are certain he didn't kill anyone.
In February 2015, Smith and a group of teens carried out a series of daytime burglaries in Millbrook, Alabama, when residents weren't home. They were primarily looking for gaming systems. A neighbor phoned police when she noticed a car arrive at one house where she knew the owner to be out of town on business.
Law enforcement arrived shortly thereafter; one officer entered the home via the front door. His body camera was off, so the events immediately following remain somewhat unclear. But according to the government, at some point, a 16-year-old boy named A'Donte Washington shot at police. Washington then exited the home and darted out from the backyard fence, with a gun, at which point a different officer—whose body camera footage can be seen here—shot and killed him.
Prosecutors then charged Smith, along with three other teens who took part in the burglary, with Washington's murder.
That may sound upside-down. But under the felony murder rule, defendants can be prosecuted for the death of someone they didn't actually kill if that death occurs during the commission of other various felonies. Under Alabama's statute, those crimes include first-degree escape, robbery in any degree, and first- or second-degree burglary.
In other words, because Smith and his friends were present at the burglary, it is as if they all pulled the trigger and killed their friend. Smith was subsequently tried as an adult and sentenced to 65 years in prison: 30 years for murder, 15 years for burglary, and 10 years apiece for two theft convictions. (It was later reduced to 55 years.)
Part of that severity was a result of him exercising his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial; the other boys accepted plea deals for far less prison time. Two of them, who are a year older than Smith, served 14 months. Even the original prosecutor on the case, C.J. Robinson, supported a resentencing hearing for Smith.
