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Suspect Appears In Court; Law Explained

KSBI News

14-year-old Jevontai Ingram appeared in court Thursday morning for arraignment, charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a felony.

Ingram is one of four charge with murder, including the pharmacist, Jerome Ersland, Emmanuel Mitchell, accused of being the getaway driver, and Anthony Morrison, accused of setting up the robbery.

But how can four people be charged with murder in this case? Criminal defense attorney Tommy Adler explains when someone dies during a crime, the law holds everyone involved accountable.

"The law holds a theory called felony murder," said Adler. "It means if you or anybody else agree to go on some sort of crime, and in the process, anybody dies for any reason, you can be charged with that person's murder. It's there on the books to deter people from planning deadly and dangerous crimes."

Adler says in this case, the law goes after everyone involved, even if they didn't hold a weapon or go into the store.

"It's not uncommon, especially for gangs, for older members to send out younger, more impressionable, for lack of a better term, footsoldiers, to do their dirty work," said Adler. "It's a horrifying, terrible situation."

Adler says he's received calls from people all over the nation, all focusing on Oklahoma law. "It's situations like these that lead to movie scripts," Adler said. "It's situations like these that lead to Primetime Live, and I think it's going to get a lot of attention. I really think the eyes of the nation are going to be focused on Oklahoma."

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