A mandatory life sentence in prison without parole for loaning a friend your car? Not in the good old U-S-of-A, you say? Perhaps only in the United States would be more accurate…

Most people are unaware someone can be sentenced to life for a murder that someone else committed. Florida’s “felony-murder” statute permits a person to be held liable for a murder committed by a co-defendant, even if they were not present when it occurred or the killing was accidental. Making matters worse, people of color are disproportionately convicted under these flawed laws. The Florida Legislature has an important legal reform bill introduced for a vote that would correct this injustice.

The felony-murder rule applies when an offender kills someone during the commission of a crime. That offender may be found guilty of murder regardless of whether the killing was intentional. The problem arises when a minor participant, such as a getaway driver or co-conspirator, is charged under this rule. Under the rule, a life-without-parole sentence is imposed on that minor participant who did not actually kill anyone.

Essentially, life without parole is a death-by-incarceration sentence, since the defendant never has a chance at redemption, and will die in prison. Such a sentence sends a message that the defendant is irredeemable and incapable of functioning in society. I think those sentences should be reserved for the most heinous of criminals and not for people who were minor participants.

Applying the felony-murder rule to minor participants in crimes has resulted in such miscarriages of justice that then Gov. Rick Scott chose to intervene to correct one. In 2004, Ryan Holle, a 20-year old Pensacola resident, was convicted of first-degree murder under this rule for lending his car to a friend, who used the car in a burglary during which a murder was committed. At no point was Holle accused of participating in the burglary.

Holle told the New York Times that he thought his friend was joking about using his car to commit a burglary. After years of fighting in the appellate courts without success, Holle was finally given some relief by Scott, who reduced his sentence on June 24, 2015.

“I believe that the purpose of commutations is to undo such obviously inequitable results,” Scott told the Tampa Bay Times at the time. “Because Ryan Holle’s responsibility for [the victim’s] death is clearly less than [his co-defendant’s], I believe his sentence should likewise be less.”

The United States is one of a few developed nations in the world that still locks away minor participants for life under the felony-murder rule. In fact, the doctrine has been completely abolished in England, Canada, Ireland and most of Europe. In addition, a study by The American Bar Association found that a disproportionate number of defendants prosecuted under the felony-murder rule are people of color. With our current national debate about racial disparities in sentencing and incarceration, the time is ripe to address these injustices in the Florida Penal Code.

Fixing broken laws is a bipartisan issue that everyone can get behind. California recently passed SB1437, a bill that gave prosecutors guidelines by redefining the law for felony-murder liability. In California, a defendant cannot be charged with felony-murder unless they are the actual killer or acted with the intent to kill.

It is time for Florida to take California’s lead, and fix its broken and draconian felony-murder statute. Florida State Sen. Randolph Bracy has introduced SB 478. It is nearly identical to the California bill, and would correct the injustice of the current Florida felony-murder rule.

This is not a soft-on-crime proposal, but rather, common-sense reform that will benefit society. Nobody is well-served by allowing these miscarriages of justice to continue. Please help make this a reality in Florida.

Randy Lambert is a criminal defense and civil rights attorney at O’Mara Law Group in Orlando.

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