Bill to overturn California's murder-accomplice rule gets Assembly approval

SACRAMENTO — Efforts to overturn a law that holds accomplices in murders as culpable as those who do the killing narrowly passed the state Assembly on Wednesday. SB1437 by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, would limit murder convictions to those who actually commit the crime, changing current law that holds accomplices to the same standard as those who actually committed the crime under what is called the felony murder rule. The bill now heads back to the Senate, where it passed previously. If approved there again, the bill would head to Gov. Jerry Brown. SB1437 would allow those who have been convicted as an accomplice to murder to petition a court to be re-sentenced. The bill exempts any case in which a police officer was killed.