From
The People's Law Dictionary (bold by me):
felony murder doctrine
n. a rule of criminal statutes that any death which occurs during the commission of a felony is first degree murder, and all participants in that felony or attempted felony can be charged with and found guilty of murder. A typical example is a robbery involving more than one criminal, in which one of them shoots, beats to death or runs over a store clerk, killing the clerk. Even if the death were accidental, all of the participants can be found guilty of felony murder, including those who did no harm, had no gun, and/or did not intend to hurt anyone. In a bizarre situation, if one of the holdup men or women is killed, his/her fellow robbers can be charged with murder.
From
Justia:
Almost every state in the United States has a felony murder rule, and federal law recognizes the felony murder rule, as well. In most states, felony murder is categorized as a first-degree murder and can result in sentencing from several years to a life imprisonment.
In conclusion:
- the felony murder doctrine is common throughout the US, and certainly not unique to Alabama
- the doctrine is not new
- as @SLC capably points out, laws protecting the lives of unborn babies are neither uncommon nor new
- I personally agree with you that applying the felony murder doctrine to this kind of unintentional homicide-by-proxy during an assault is excessive, and I hope the sentencing judge exercises considerable leniency
While I'm sorry to hear that the what-ifs of a fantasy TV series have your panicked hearts aflutter, rest assured that back here in the real world these charges reflect longstanding laws and do not represent any significant shift in legal doctrine.