In Georgia, there are two ways you can be charged with murder without pulling a trigger, so to speak. The first way is being charged with felony murder. The other is being charged as party to a crime, but that is for a different blog. Felony Murder means an individual died during the commission of a felony, even if there was no intent to cause a death. The underlying felony must be of the type that is inherently dangerous, or the circumstances of the felony create a foreseeable risk of death.

To give you an example, person X and person V get into a fight. X has no intention of ending V’s life but beats V so badly, V ends up dying from his injuries. X will likely be charged with aggravated battery for the beating and felony murder based on the aggravated battery. Aggravated battery is an inherently dangerous felony, and it caused the death of V. It is also becoming increasingly common for the state to charge a dealer or provider of drugs with felony murder after someone dies from an overdose.

The penalty for felony murder is the SAME as malice murder or with the intent to kill. It carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison, with or without parole. In Georgia, 30 years of the life sentence must be served before you are eligible for parole. Give us a call for a free case consultation at 404-581-0999.