Killed by the Police

The Defendant and three others broke into a house. Police arrived, and the Defendant was caught, handcuffed, and placed in a patrol car. One accomplice, however, kept running. When that accomplice fired at a pursuing officer, the officer shot and killed him. The State charged the Defendant — already in custody at the time — with felony murder for the death of his own co-felon, on the theory that the killing occurred during the burglary the Defendant had set in motion. The Defense argued that a death caused by a police officer's lawful act cannot be laid at the surviving felon's feet. The case turned on which theory of felony murder Kansas would follow.