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 Rhode Island, the felony murder rule is codified under Rhode Island General Laws § 11-23-1, which states that any person who commits or attempts to commit a specified felony such as arson, burglary, robbery, or other violent felonies, and in the course of the commission or attempted commission of such felony, causes the death of another person, may be charged with murder. This includes accomplices such as lookouts or getaway drivers, who can be held as responsible for the death as the person who directly caused it. The rule applies even if there was no intention to kill anyone during the commission of the felony, and it also applies if a co-felon is killed, for example by law enforcement. The felony murder rule in Rhode Island thus holds all participants in certain felonies liable for any resulting death, regardless of their specific role or intent regarding the homicide.