Just Wondering wrote:

It's not conspiracy to commit murder, it's a crime known as "felony
murder." Most states have a criminal statute that says if a person is
killed during the commission of a felony, the death is classified as a
murder, and every person involved in committing the felony is guilty
of the murder.

Yeah, the second guy needs to be punished for his involvement,
but I'm not sure a murder rap is the correct punishment.

That's the risk a person takes when deciding to commit a felony.

Good explanation. Let me expand it a bit:

A homicide (killing of one person by the actions of another) occurs during
the commission of a felony, the homicide is Felony Murder. All individuals
involved in the original felony are guilty of the crime. Note that the
person committing the homicide need not be the felon (as it was in this
case). In the extreme, during a riot, if a homicide occurs, ALL involved in
the riot are guilty of murder.

We had a case in my town, May 15-16, 1967, where 489 people were initially
charged with capital murder (killing of a police officer).