Felony-murder conviction reversed

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court reversed the lower courts’ denial of a criminal defendant’s resentencing on his murder conviction. Under the old felony-murder rule, the prosecution only needed to show he intended to commit the underlying robbery felony, during which his accomplish shot and killed the victim. But under a rule passed in 2018, the felony-murder conviction can be retroactively challenged: The defendant did not know his accomplish had a gun or was likely to use lethal force during the short crime, and he told his accomplice to leave instead of becoming more violent, to no avail.