The

Lakeeth Smith is serving 30 years behind bars for the murder of his friend.

But Lakeeth didn't kill him.

A police officer did.

In 2015, Lakeeth and four of the teenagers, at least some of whom were armed, broke into

an empty home in Millbrook, Alabama, a suburb just outside of Montgomery.

In the course of the burglary, officers showed up.

Police say they were fired upon from the house.

And then, police say 16-year-old Adante Washington came out of the backyard with a gun in his hand,

and that an officer shot and killed Adante.

Lakeeth and the other surviving teens were all arrested and charged with burglary, theft,

and something known as felony murder.

The felony murder rule.

felony murder.

felony murder charge.

Alabama's law is based on something called the felony murder rule, a century-old legal

concept.

There's an issue with felony murder.

42 states have some form of a felony murder rule.

The felony murder rule is a law that says, if you commit a crime that rises to the level

of a felony, something like burglary, arson, or, say, kidnapping, and that crime somehow

results in a death.

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