BLATANT INJUSTICE/DISCRIMINATION! In 1997 Rodney Jenkins was 20 years old when he and a friend committed robbery. The victim of the robbery killed Rodney's friend. The State of Indiana charged Rodney with the death of his friend by using the felony murder doctrine. 
Indiana's Supreme Court made it clear that legislature intended to make the killing of a human being while committing or attempting to commit ANY rape, arson, robbery or burglary, murder in the first degree(Indiana has since dropped the degrees of murder I.C.35-42-1-1(2)
The first case in Indiana which applied felony murder to the surviving felon is Palmer v. State, 704 N.E.2d 124. In that case Palmer's accomplice was killed by a law enforcement officer during a kidnapping. 
The second case is Jenkins v. State, 726 N.E.2d 268. In that case Jenkins' accomplice was killed by a robbery victim. 
Palmer's court stated "He pointed a loaded and cocked handgun at the head of officer Gehrig and thereafter fired it, injuring the officer. Such conduct clearly raised the foreseeable possibility that the intended victim might resist or that law enforcement would respond...this felonious conduct was clearly "the meditate or immediate cause" of Williams death."
Jenkins' court stated "The evidence and reasonable inferences establish that the survivor and his co-perpetrator engaged in dangerously violent and threatening conduct and that their conduct created a situation that exposes persons present to the danger of death at the hands of a non participant who might resist or respond to the conduct...Thomas's death was foreseeable and that defendant's role, was "an intermediary, secondary or medium in effecting or bringing about the death...defendant was the meditate or immediate cause of Thomas's death. 
In 2012 five people decided to commit a burglary. They were between the ages of 16 and 21. After finding a home they went in and the homeowner killed one of them. The State charged the remaining four with felony murder, and all were convicted. The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the felony murder convictions in Layman v. State, 17 N.E.3d 957, but the Indiana Supreme Court granted transfer and reversed the felony murder convictions in
Layman v. State, 42 N.E.3d 972 stating  "Thus while the evidence is sufficient to sustain a conviction of burglary, it is not sufficient to sustain a conviction for felony murder in the perpetration of a burglary...there was simply nothing about appellant's conduct or the conduct of their cohorts that was "clearly the meditate or immediate cause" of their friend's death...Accordingly, we reverse Layman's and Sparks convictions for felony murder"
Indiana Supreme Court's reversal of Layman and not Jenkins is nothing less than discriminatory and arbitrary! The Court is going beyond what's required and reweighing the evidence. The only requirement is that a particular felony was committed or attempted and someone died while committing or attempting to commit it. The Court in Layman disregarded legislative intent by looking passed the conduct of committing the felony itself and going into the conduct within the felony which is not what legislature intended. Legislature intended for ANY rape,  arson, robbery or burglary that resulted in death to be felony murder. By not following legislative intent, reweighing the evidence and arbitrarily applying the Felony Murder rule to Rodney's case the Indiana Supreme Court discriminated against Rodney.     Rodney Jenkins has been incarcerated 24 years for a law that was applied exactly how it was applied in Layman, yet Layman goes free and Rodney remains incarcerated? Isn't justice suppose to be blind? Where's the justice in that? 
The State of Indiana filed a petition for rehearing presenting evidence of Layman being armed with a knife and violently kicking in the homeowner's door, [Indiana Supreme Court stated Layman wasn't armed nor was his conduct dangerously violent and threatening] but the Indiana Supreme Court denied the petition. Had the petition been granted either Layman's conviction would have been reinstated or every case in Indiana involving convictions of surviving accomplices for the deaths of their co felons would have been reversed. 
Rodney Jenkins needs attention drawn to his case and I'm submitting this petition to get the ball rolling. Reach out to whoever you may know and share this petition so we can get justice for Rodney because this is a case of blatant discrimination!