If there's one regret attorney Tim Berkley has in a career that's included defending clients accused of the most heinous crimes, prosecuting juveniles as young as 10 and drafting appellate court rulings on a team of accomplished writers, it's that the man who threw him a lifeline during desperate times didn't live long enough to see him graduate law school.
Last January, Illinois legislators changed the state s felony murder statute as part of the landmark criminal justice reform bill known as the SAFE-T Act. But it didn t apply the reform retroactively.
The felony murder rule allows prosecutors to bring murder charges against anyone who participates in committing certain felonies if a death happens during the crime. The doctrine applies even if