Arizona abolished all common law criminal concepts and replaced them with criminal statutes[1]. The felony murder rule survives in Arizona by current statutory law. The felony murder rule holds that a killing of a person occurring in the course of, or in the immediate flight from, the commission of the following crimes is considered murder in the first degree:[2]
A person convicted of murder in the first degree faces possible sentences of life imprisonment or, when aggravating factors exist, the death penalty[3].