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 Florida, the felony murder rule is codified in Florida Statutes Section 782.04(1)(a). This rule holds that if a person is killed during the commission of certain felonies, such as robbery, burglary, rape, arson, kidnapping, or carjacking, all participants in the felony can be charged with first-degree murder, regardless of their level of direct involvement in the act that caused the death. This means that accomplices, such as lookouts or getaway drivers, can be held as responsible for the murder as the individual who actually committed the killing. The rule applies even if the death was unintentional or accidental, and it includes situations where a co-felon is killed, for example, by law enforcement during the commission of the felony. The felony murder rule in Florida is a strict liability doctrine, meaning that the prosecution does not need to prove that the defendant had an intent to kill, only that the defendant was engaged in a predicate felony that resulted in a death.