NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — They didn't pull the trigger, but they're serving time for murder. In Tennessee, that's allowed under the state's felony murder law, but lawmakers could consider changing it.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee held a summer study Thursday on the topic after Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) sponsored a bill to change the felony murder law earlier this year.

“This is really important to ensure fairness, particularly for those who have been convicted of crimes they didn’t explicitly commit," Sen. Akbari said. “For me, if you intended to commit a robbery, you should be charged with a robbery. If you intended to commit a murder and you committed murder, then you should be charged with that, but if you’re someone who did not want that to happen and now you’re charged with it, I think that needs to be further looked at."

According to TN law, a person who is present during a killing while committing another act of violence can be charged with murder. During the summer study session, lawmakers heard testimony from those pushing for the change, and others who support the law as is.

“You have heard or will hear the phrase different acts, different facts, or separate facts, separate acts, it’s catchy but it ignores the reality of violent crime. When criminals join forces to commit dangerous felonies, they share the acts and the risks. They don’t get to pick and choose which parts of the crime they own after the fact," General Stephen Crump, executive director of the Tennessee Attorneys General Conference, said. “In the real world, the robbery doesn’t happen without the driver, the lookout, the planner, or the gun supplier. Different acts for sure, but the very same deadly enterprise.”

Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) was vocal about his support for the current law and called the discussion a solution in search of a problem.

“They’re not leaving Sunday school and people are hopping in the car and saying, 'go go go.' They knew they were going to commit another crime, and in the process of committing a crime they intended to commit, somebody ends up dead. They should be charged with felony murder," Sen. Taylor said. “I appreciate this committee and what we’re doing, but I think this is a waste of oxygen that somebody else could be breathing.”

However, several citizens who have been personally impacted by the state law, including Ashlee Sellars, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for driving a man who then killed someone, unaware of his plans, believe there should be more "precise accountability."

“I did not plan a robbery, I did not plan for her death, I did not cause her death, nor was I on the property when it happened," Sellars said.

Despite that, Sellars served more than two decades in prison for the crime.

“I’m not saying that my husband should not be held accountable for being present that day, but 82 years? More time than the actual killer? Under a doctrine of criminal responsibility, it’s simply unjust and inhumane," Shawn’a Hatcher, whose husband is in prison, said.

Lawmakers didn't take any action during the session, but they could consider the bill to change the law during the upcoming legislative session, which begins next January.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-politics/tn-felony-murder-law/