How to Get Charged With Murder Without Harming Anyone

Yesterday’s headlines proclaimed that a
possibly-pregnant woman had been shot and killed in California by
an 80-year-old man whose house she was attempting to rob. Now
Andrea Miller’s co-burglar, Gus Adams, has
been arrested on murder charges for her
death.   

Upon reading this, my mind immediately went to Elaborate Plot
territory: Was it actually Adams and the homeowner who were
accomplices? Was the burglary merely a ruse to justify Miller’s
shooting? Is Los Angeles just one big Raymond Chandler novel after
all? 

Alas, no. Adams was charged with murder under a california
statute that holds accomplices accountable should partners in crime
be killed on the job. Adams, who now faces a potential murder
charge in addition to robbery chargers, is being held on more than
$1 million bail.

It certainly seems like Adams deserves to be charged with
robbery, and possibly assault—Long Beach police say Adams and
Miller beat the elderly homeowner, Tom Greer, with their fists and
body slammed him to the ground after he walked in on them mid-act.
But murder? When Greer
freely admits to chasing Miller and Adams into a back
alley and shooting Miller in the back? 

Apparently it’s not uncommon for the state to use this practice
to ratchet up penalties for those already facing robbery charges.
Earlier this week, a
California teen was charged with three counts of murder in
conjunction with a bank robbery where one hostage and his two
alleged accomplices were killed. The young man could now be
eligible for the death penalty. In a 2007 case, three young men
broke into a home where the homeowner shot two of them to death.
The surviving man was
charged with their murders (though he was
eventually acquitted
by a jury). 

States across the country—Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Indiana, to
name a few—have and enforce similar laws allowing for accomplice
murder charges. In Arizona recently, a husband and wife team who
attempted to rob a medical marijuana dispensary
were charged with second-degree murder after their accomplice
was killed. Under Arizona’s “felony murder rule,” someone who
commits a felony that results in a death can be charged with murder
even if they didn’t kill anyone personally.

A few more recent cases: 

• In June, two Southern Ohio men broke into a home. The resident
  stabbed one of the young intruders in self-defense. The other
  intruder was
  arrested on felony murder charges. 
• Also in June, a 22-year-old
  West Virginia woman was arrested for murder after an alleged
  robbery co-conspirator wound up dead.
• In May, a 16-year-old Texas boy
  was arrested on murder charges after a friend was killed in the
  course of their attempted smoke-shop robbery. 
• In April, a 15-year-old who took part in a carjacking was
  charged with murder after his accomplice was shot and killed by
  the victim. 
• Also in April,
  two Massachusetts teens attempted to rob a man who wound up
  fatally shooting one of them. The other was charged with his
  friend’s murder.