Since news of the first death during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 broke — which is to say, before the riot was even over — lawmakers, television personalities and countless regular people on social media have been saying that the rioters have blood on their hands.

The law does, in fact, provide a way to hold people accountable for deaths they did not directly cause, like that of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer while attempting to enter a restricted area.

But the felony murder rule, as it is called, is a limited provision that has raised a host of legal and moral questions about complicity and fairness.

In its broadest terms the felony murder rule holds a person who commits a crime responsible for any deaths that result.

Michael R. Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has said that felony murder charges are among those under consideration in the sprawling federal investigation, which has resulted in more than 180 arrests.

Though five people, including a Capitol Police officer, lost their lives in the siege, the most serious charges so far include weapons possession, assault of police officers, conspiracy to impede the certification of the vote and conspiracy to obstruct law enforcement.

Over the weekend the authorities arrested Zachary Alam, who is accused of using a helmet to break the window through which Ms. Babbitt was trying to climb when she was fatally shot. He was charged with multiple offenses including assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon.

“Just the gamut of cases and criminal conduct we’re looking at is really mind-blowing,” Mr. Sherwin said in a news conference on Jan. 12. “This is only the beginning.”

Felony murder is a vestige of British common law that many other countries have abolished. It has been used in the United States in ways that have been widely decried, such as charging young people who are not the central participants in a crime.

In other circumstances, like when police officers are accused of killing unjustly, prosecutors have turned to the felony murder rule as a way to avoid having to prove malice aforethought.

It is difficult to tell how often the felony murder rule is used in federal prosecutions because it is lumped in with all other first-degree murder charges, according to the United States Sentencing Commission, which tracks convictions and sentences.

Any such charges stemming from the Capitol siege will be highly dependent on the facts that emerge and what prosecutors think a jury will accept.

“Prosecutors don’t like to charge crimes where the law hasn’t clearly established that the charges will stand,” said Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney who now teaches at the University of Alabama School of Law. “So that concern will have to be weighed against the seriousness of the circumstances.”

The classic example of felony murder is an armed robbery in which one robber shoots and kills someone.

Prosecutors can charge both the triggerman and his accomplices with first-degree murder, regardless of premeditation or intent to kill.

States have wide variance in what their felony murder laws require. Some say that the death must have been foreseeable or committed “in furtherance of” the crime. In a robbery using guns, for example, objective people would most likely agree that death was a foreseeable outcome.

Federal law lists 11 crimes that can serve as a basis for felony murder: arson, escape, murder, kidnapping, treason, espionage, sabotage, aggravated sexual abuse or sexual abuse, child abuse, burglary, or robbery.

Legal experts say the one most likely to apply in the Capitol riot is burglary, defined as entering a building with the intent to commit an additional crime. Simply having entered the Capitol unlawfully would not be enough, and intent is difficult to prove.

Beyond that, there are other significant hurdles, said Guyora Binder, an expert on felony murder at the University at Buffalo School of Law. One is the question of who qualifies as an accomplice.

“Let’s say you enter with the intent to commit one crime, and half an hour later I enter with the intent to commit another crime and we never see each other, and I’ve never heard of you,” he said. “So we’re both committing burglaries, but we’re not committing the same burglary. I’m not your accomplice. You’re not my accomplice.”

Capitol Riot Fallout

From Riot to Impeachment

The riot inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, followed a rally at which President Trump made an inflammatory speech to his supporters, questioning the results of the election. Here’s a look at what happened and the ongoing fallout:

• • As this video shows, poor planning and a restive crowd encouraged by President Trump set the stage for the riot.
  • A two hour period was crucial to turning the rally into the riot.
  • Several Trump administration officials, including cabinet members Betsy DeVos and Elaine Chao, announced that they were stepping down as a result of the riot.
  • Federal prosecutors have charged more than 70 people, including some who appeared in viral photos and videos of the riot. Officials expect to eventually charge hundreds of others.
  • The House voted to impeach the president on charges of “inciting an insurrection” that led to the rampage by his supporters.

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