State v. Freeman

Fletcher, Presiding Justice.

A jury convicted Roger Wayne Freeman of felony murder and hindering the apprehension of a criminal in connection with the shooting death of John Douglas Hopper. After a post-trial hearing, the trial court vacated the felony-murder conviction as illegal. We must decide whether a felony-murder conviction is void as a matter of law when a jury convicts a defendant of hindering the apprehension of a criminal as a lesser included offense of murder. Because a defendant cannot be both a party to a crime and an accessory after the crime, we affirm.

Freeman was indicted for…