Megan Thompson:

Forty-two states have some form of a felony murder rule, and it's interpreted differently in each. In some cases, it's been used to charge accomplices with murder. So for instance, if two people rob a store and one of them kills the clerk… both of them are charged with murder. The idea is, everyone involved in a felony should be held accountable for the consequences.

But some states interpret felony murder more broadly. In rare cases, if the clerk kills one of the robbers, the other robber is charged with murder.

Take the case of Justin Doyle in Illinois. In 2008, Doyle, 15 and unarmed, set out to rob a home with three other boys. They thought it was empty. A person staying there shot and killed one teen, Travis Castle. The other three were charged with Castle's murder. Faced with a possible 60-year sentence, Doyle – who got a tattoo to memorialize Castle- pled guilty to home invasion and involuntary manslaughter, and was likely to get out of prison in 15 years.

Steven Drizin got Doyle's sentence commuted by the Illinois governor.