DENVER -- The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday reversed the felony murder conviction and life sentence of Lisl Auman, who was found guilty of murder even though she was handcuffed and in the back of a police car when a companion shot and killed a police officer.

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The court said the conviction was flawed because the judge's instructions to the jury on a related burglary charge may have been improper. Auman's conviction on the burglary charge allowed the jury to find her guilty of felony murder, which carries a sentence of life without parole.

The court ordered a new trial but upheld the law that allowed Auman to be convicted of felony murder as an accomplice, even though she did not kill anyone.

"... It does not matter that the defendant had no intent to kill or that the defendant did not cause the killing," the court ruled.

The jury had convicted Auman of felony murder, saying she had set in motion a chain of events that led to the deadly shootout.

Police were pursuing Auman and her companion, Matthaeus Jaehnig, after a break-in Nov. 12, 1997. A passer-by called police; when they responded, Auman and Jaehnig fled from Buffalo Creek to Denver in a car driven by Jaehnig.

Prosecutors said Auman handed Jaehnig a gun at some point.

Officers pursued Auman and Jaehnig to a condominium complex 30 miles away, where the pair abandoned the car and fled.

Auman was later apprehended and placed in handcuffs before Jaehnig ran into a maze of townhouses, exchanging gunfire with police. During the shootout he killed Denver police officer Bruce VanderJagt, then killed himself.

Auman, 29, has spent seven years in prison appealing her conviction.

The case attracted national attention because she was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Celebrities including Sean Penn, Johnny Depp, Benecio Del Toro and the late Hunter S. Thompson have come out in support of Auman.

Public defender Kathleen Lord has argued that the Denver jury which heard the case in 1998 didn't fully understand state law before convicting her of felony murder. According to Lord, jurors were mistakenly instructed that they could convict Auman of felony murder even if the killing wasn't associated with a previous crime.

Auman's lawyers felt that her life sentence was unjustified. Lord told the state Supreme Court that Auman had no way of knowing that Jaehnig had guns in his car or that he would shoot the officer. Lord said the state statute allowing companions in a felony to be convicted of murder was wrong.

"It lets someone who didn't mean to kill and who didn't kill to be found guilty of Colorado's most serious offense," she had told the five justices who heard the appeal.

The state attorney general's office argued that any questions about instructions to the jury should have been made before the case went to the jurors. Attorney General John Suthers said the sentence was just.

"Felony murder is a very important legal principle. The message to any would-be felon is, if you engage in a certain form of misconduct, you are responsible for anything that flows out of it," he said.

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the judge failed to tell the jury that a burglary conviction requires prosecutors to prove that the defendant knowingly took someone else's property without permission.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and other groups have said the case highlights problems with the felony murder statute and the possibility that the law can be abused.

The state Court of Appeals in September 2002 upheld Auman's murder conviction and her other convictions on charges of burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary.

Prosecutors say Auman is responsible for the shooting because she recruited Jaehnig and three others to break into her ex-boyfriend's room at the at the Hudson Hotel Lodge near Buffalo Creek in 1997. Police gave chase and Jaehnig shot at officers during the ensuing police chase down U.S. Highway 285 into Denver.

Vanderjagt's sister, Gail VanderJagt Rice, issued a statement Monday afternoon about the Supreme Court ruling :

"Lisl Auman knew what was happening during the burglary and in no way helped the police. Her failure to cooperate led to my brother’s murder and for that she needs to serve a significant time in prison. More time than the 7½ years she has already served.

"I am opposed to the felony murder law and do not believe Lisl Auman should be in prison for the rest of her life, but she needs to serve significant time for her crimes. She is guilty."

Jason Dunn, spokesman for Attorney General John Suthers, had no comment Monday. Lord on Monday did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Denver District Attorney's Mitch Morrissey said he is extremely pleased that the Colorado Supreme Court has upheld the state's felony murder statute and reiterated what lower courts have previously ruled: Auman's arrest did not end her liability for felony murder.

"The reversal was not based on the facts of the case, but rather the formatting of a jury instruction that concerned where the word "knowingly" appeared," Morriseey said.

Karen Steinhauser, a former Denver prosecutor who had no connection with the case, said a retrial will be difficult for prosecutors because witnesses' memories have faded and some witnesses are no longer available.

She said the ruling will be a blow to many.

"The fact this case is being overturned will be difficult, not just for police officers, but for the family of officer VanderJagt," she said.

VanderJagt's wife now lives in Albuquerque, N.M.