Can a person encouraging or facilitating the commission of a crime be held criminally liable for any other crime that was a natural and probable consequence of the crime?

(1) "At common law, a person encouraging or facilitating the commission of a crime could be held criminally liable not only for that crime, but for any other offense that was a `natural and probable consequence' of the crime aided and abetted. [Citation.] [] Although the `natural and probable consequences' doctrine has been `subjected to substantial criticism' [citations], it is an `established rule' of American jurisprudence [citation]. It is based on the recognition that `aiders and abettors should be responsible for the criminal harms they have naturally, probably and foreseeably put in motion.' [Citation.]" (People v. Prettyman (1996) 14 Cal.4th 248, 260 [58 Cal.Rptr.2d 827, 926 P.2d 1013] (Prettyman).)

"The determination whether a particular criminal act was a natural and probable consequence of another criminal act aided and abetted by a defendant requires application of an objective rather than subjective test. [Citations.] This does not mean that the issue is to be considered in the abstract as a question of law. [Citation.] Rather, the issue is a factual question to be resolved by the jury in light of all of the circumstances surrounding the incident. [Citations.] Consequently, the issue does not turn on the defendant's subjective state of mind, but depends upon whether, under all of the circumstances presented, a reasonable person in the defendant's position would have or should have known that the charged offense was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the act aided and abetted by the defendant. [Citations.]" (People v. Nguyen (1993) 21 Cal.App.4th 518, 531 [26 Cal.Rptr.2d 323].)

[176 Cal.App.4th 669]

B. Instructions on Natural and Probable Consequences