The felony murder rule is a legal doctrine that expands the definition of murder and makes criminal accomplices (including a lookout or getaway driver) as responsible for a death that occurs in the course of a dangerous felony crime as the person who directly caused the death by pulling the trigger of a gun, stabbing the victim with a knife, strangling the victim, or otherwise causing the victim’s death. Examples of dangerous felony crimes that implicate the felony murder rule include robbery, burglary, rape, aggravated kidnapping, carjacking, and arson.

When the felony murder rule applies, it may make a criminal accomplice liable for murder even if the criminals had agreed that no one would be killed in the course of the crime, and even if it is a fellow criminal who is killed in the course of the crime—such as when a police officer or security guard shoots a bank robber—which may result in all other accomplices to the crime being charged with murder.

In many states the felony murder rule—and any distinctions between the culpability of accomplices and principals to a crime—are located in the state’s statutes—often in the penal or criminal code.

In Colorado, the felony murder rule is codified in the Colorado Revised Statutes under Section 18-3-102. This rule holds that if a person or an accomplice participates in or attempts to commit certain felonies and a death occurs during the commission of that felony, the person can be charged with first-degree murder, regardless of intent to kill. The felonies that can trigger the felony murder rule in Colorado include robbery, burglary, kidnapping, sexual assault, arson, escape, and certain other felonies. The rule applies even if the death was accidental or unintended, and it can also apply if a co-felon is killed, for example, by law enforcement during the commission of the felony. The felony murder rule in Colorado thus expands the liability for murder to include accomplices in the underlying felony, not just the individual who directly caused the death.