![This photo is split vertically in half. On the left, Antonio Meanus holds an infant inside a hospital. On the right, Robert Smith stands with public defender Josh Lohn and an unnamed woman. Both were charged with felony murder.](https://theappeal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/meanus-smith-lohn-1200x720.png)
How Missouri’s ‘Felony Murder’ Law Traps People for Defending Themselves
An investigation by The Appeal and the Yale Investigative Reporting Lab reveals how prosecutors use the state’s felony murder statute to imprison people who say they acted in self-defense. The majority of those convicted under the law since 2010 are Black. “I had to take the plea because they’re using this law to get people to stay locked up,” one man said.