Senate Bill 1437 (2018 Cal SB 1437.), signed by Governor Jerry Brown on September 30, 2018, went into effect on January 1, 2019. This new law significantly limits accomplice liability for the crime of murder. In passing SB 1437, the Legislature found and declared as follows:
“it is a bedrock principle of the law and of equity that a person should be punished for his or her actions according to his or her own level of individual culpability” and accordingly, “it is necessary to amend the felony murder rule and the natural and probable consequences doctrine, as it relates to murder, to ensure that murder liability is not imposed on a person who is not the actual killer, did not act with the intent to kill, or was not a major participant in the underlying felony who acted with reckless indifference to human life.”
(2018 Cal SB 1437, Sec. 1, subdivisions (d) and (f).)
SB 1437 radically redefines who can be held accountable for the crime of murder. The bill also adds Penal Code section 1170.95 which makes the new changes fully retroactive for those convicted of murder under the old laws.