Character witness. Amending Felony Murder

• Author: Douglas Gilding.
• Pages: 13-14

CHARACTER WITNESS

Amending

Felony

Murder

Inmate’s life sentence spurs him

to push for reform

Character Witness explores legal and

societal issues through a rst-person lens.

Editor’s note: Douglas Gilding was

sentenced to life in prison without

parole after he was convicted of rst-

degree felony murder for his role in a

1997 robbery during which a man was

killed. In this column, Gilding, who is

a paralegal, describes his efforts from

behind bars to amend Florida’s felony

murder law.

BY DOUGLAS GILDING

Lock ’em up and throw away

the key!” I hear this often,

but is it really a sustainable

solution? Sadly, I’ve noticed

that defending the status quo seems to

be the default position for some people.

Many politicians today engage in scare

tactics, latching on to news stories about

the rare inmate who is released from

prison and then kills someone. They post

on Facebook and Twitter: “See! This

is why we can never let criminals out

of prison!”

But it’s time to put aside the fear-

mongering. Of course, there are inmates

who pose a danger to society. There are

plenty of others, like me, who made bad

choices or had addiction issues and can

be rehabilitated and released to become

productive members of society.

My name is Douglas Gilding. I grew

up in a small town in Maine, then went

to college in Florida. I was arrested in

June 1997 and have been incarcerated

since then for murder without being

accused of killing anyone. In fact, I

received a life without parole sentence

for what amounted to a 10-minute

conversation in a car the night before

a robbery. Not actually committing the

crime, just talking about it.

Nonetheless, I received a life sentence

because of the felony murder rule, which

allows a person to be held liable for a

murder committed by a co-defendant

even if the person was not present when

it occurred or the death was accidental.

The United States is one of the only

developed nations that still has these

draconian felony murder laws on the

books. This means someone who played

a relatively minor role in a crime could

spend his or her life behind bars. This

type of sentence should be reserved for

the most heinous criminals, not peripher-

al players.

While he was sleeping

In the 2007 New York Times article

“Serving Life for Providing Car to Kill-

ers,”Adam Liptak tells the story of Ryan

Holle. The 20-year-old was partying at

his apartment one night when his friends

decided to rob a local drug dealer. The

only role Holle played in the crime was

to loan the friends his car; then he went

to bed. His friends, however, went on to

rob the dealer and ended up killing a

woman in the process.

“

Douglas Gilding and his VetDog part-

ner, Captain, at Maine State Prison.

ABA JOURNAL | FEBRUARY–MARCH 2022

13

Inter Alia | CHARACTER WITNESS

Photo courtesy of Douglas Gilding