TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Aug 22, 2025

State lawmakers are reconsidering how accomplices to murder are charged under the state’s felony murder law, which allows accomplices to face equal or harsher punishments than the actual killer, Local 3 News reports. During a Senate Judiciary Committee summer study session, lawmakers heard testimony from Mindy Dodd, who served decades in prison for conspiring to murder her husband and stepfather despite not being at the crime scene before her sentence was commuted in 2021. Former District Attorney Stephen Crump argued the law fairly deters crime, while Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, said it can unjustly punish people with little or no intent to kill. No vote was taken, but proposals to amend the law could be filed next year when the legislature reconvenes.