FORT WORTH -- A suspect in a December smoke shop robbery has surrendered to police, who want to charge him with murder in the death of a 20-year-old man who accompanied him.
Demarcus Lynn Williams, 21, of Fort Worth was in the Mansfield Jail on Friday, according to records with the Tarrant County district clerk's office.The listed charge is aggravated robbery, and bail was set at $500,000.But in a twist, a murder warrant was issued for Williams after the Dec. 21 fatal shooting of Aaron Brown of Fort Worth.The shop owner shot Brown during the robbery, police said.But they are seeking the murder charge under what is called the law of parties, which is designed to treat conspirators equally.Under the law, everyone involved in one crime can be considered culpable for the actions of the one suspect who commits a second crime.Officers met with the shop owner about 8:45 the night of the shooting, police said, and he told them that two men robbed him at gunpoint.The owner said he fired several shots at the men as they left the store in the 100 block of Sheffield Drive. About 9:30 p.m., police were called to John Peter Smith Hospital in connection with a shooting.Police determined that Brown had arrived at the hospital moments earlier with several gunshot wounds to the torso and had been pronounced dead.The law of parties, also called the felony-murder rule, is most often used in situations when an accomplice is the shooter, not someone seeking to protect his property or his life, according to Frederic White, the dean of the Texas Wesleyan University law school."It's the but-for argument," White said. "But for your criminal activity, no one would have died."The law is used to deter violent behavior -- to make people think twice before entering into a criminally violent enterprise, White said.If prosecutors can convince a jury that the suspects agreed in advance to commit a criminally violent act, such as an armed robbery, they may prove their case, White said."But I'm not saying it's something the jury would agree with," White said.Mitch Mitchell, 817-390-7752Twitter: @stcrimeHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
