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 Oregon, the felony murder rule is codified in the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS). According to ORS 163.115, a person commits felony murder when they, or an accomplice, cause the death of a person during the commission or attempted commission of a felony, such as arson, rape, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, or a crime involving the use of explosives. This means that if a death occurs during the course of one of these felonies, all participants in the felony can be charged with murder, regardless of who actually caused the death. This includes situations where an accomplice serves as a lookout or getaway driver. The rule applies even if there was no intention to kill anyone and even if the deceased is a co-felon killed, for example, by law enforcement during the commission of the crime. The felony murder rule in Oregon thus holds all participants in certain felonies strictly liable for any resulting deaths.