Giving Compass' Take:

• Adnan Khan, who received a 25-year sentence for a murder committed by an accomplice during a drug theft, explains what a change in California's felony murder policy may mean. 

• How can funders help to inform effective criminal justice reform? 

• Learn more about criminal justice in California. 

In March 2003, I agreed to commit a crime. The plan was for me to grab some marijuana and run. No weapons were to be used.

In our fake drug deal plan, someone I knew only in passing was recruited as the getaway driver. After I grabbed the weed, it appeared to me the driver began punching the young man. I got out of the car and yelled, “What the heck are you doing? Get back in the car!” I would soon find out he used a knife. Much later, I learned he was schizophrenic and hadn’t taken his medications.

I was arrested at 2 a.m. the next morning. I did not know what the charges were: Maybe robbery or possession of weed?

After an exhausting interview, the detective informed me I was going to be transferred to county jail, charged with robbery and murder.

The language was confusing, and I found myself looking up words in each sentence. After decoding it, I realized that because I committed a robbery, I was equally guilty of the murder. Reality settled in.

After four years, my trial finally came. I was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years to life.

Senate Bill 1437, proposing to change the felony murder rule so that it would only apply to co-defendants who shared the intent to kill. I put little faith in it, but followed it as it went through the Legislature.

To my shock, it passed. Gov. Jerry Brown signed it. It was a miracle I had not allowed myself to hope for.

Am I letting anxiety get the best of me? Perhaps. I know disappointment. The reality is each day I still wake up in my cell. If freed, I will never be released from the fact that a life is gone related to an activity I took part in, even as the law redefines my responsibility. But yes, I can allow hope to return, if not for myself, then many others like me who had long denied themselves permission to dream.

Read the full article about changing the sentence for felony murder by Adnan Khan at The Marshall Project.