Felony Murder is at Odds with Conservative Values

A dispatch from the National Convening to End Felony Murder

This week, I attended the National Convening to End Felony Murder in Chicago, where I had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussing the conservative case against felony murder. I was honored to share the work Conservatives Concerned has done to challenge this unjust practice because the more I engage with this issue, the clearer it becomes: felony murder is fundamentally at odds with our values.

According to the Felony Murder Elimination Project, the felony murder rule allows a person to be convicted of first-degree murder even if it’s proven they did not commit, aid in, or have intent to commit murder. In some states, these individuals are eligible for — and have been subjected to — the death penalty.

Conservatives believe in individual responsibility. That means people should be held accountable for the crimes they personally commit—not for the actions of someone else. Yet felony murder does the exact opposite. It allows someone to be convicted of murder, and in some states sentenced to death, even if they neither killed anyone nor intended for anyone to die.

We also believe punishment should fit the crime. Our justice system rightly distinguishes between different levels of intent and culpability. Treating an unarmed lookout or getaway driver the same as the person who pulled the trigger ignores these important distinctions. It creates a system where vastly different conduct receives the same punishment, undermining the very idea of justice.

Felony murder also raises serious concerns about government power. As conservatives, we’re skeptical of giving the government broad authority, especially when it comes to the irreversible punishment of death. Felony murder dramatically expands prosecutors’ ability to seek the death penalty, often against individuals who were not the actual killers. In a capital punishment system already plagued by error, expanding the government’s reach should concern anyone who values limited government and due process.

Even more troubling, felony murder is a symptom of much deeper problems within the death penalty system. Too often, the least culpable participant receives the harshest punishment while the person who actually committed the killing negotiates a lighter sentence through a plea agreement. Add in prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, and other persistent flaws related to the death penalty and you’re on the fast track towards a wrongful and unjust execution.

Two recent cases illustrate this disturbing reality.

In Oklahoma, Tremane Wood was sentenced to death under the state’s felony murder law, while his brother—who admitted to carrying out the killing—received life without the possibility of parole. Likewise, Sonny Burton was sentenced to death despite not being the shooter because prosecutors argued he orchestrated the robbery. The man who actually pulled the trigger ultimately had his sentence commuted to life without parole.

Thankfully, both of these men received clemency by their respective Republican governors. Their sentences were commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Conservatives have long championed personal responsibility, proportional punishment, limited government, and equal justice under the law. Felony murder undermines every single one of these principles. It expands government power, blurs individual accountability, and ultimately erodes confidence in the justice system.

If we want a justice system worthy of public confidence, we must hold people accountable for what they did—not for what someone else chose to do. I hope you’ll join us at Conservatives Concerned as we fight for a better justice system.