How have courts interpreted the phrase "on the spur of the moment" in an instruction to a parent who stood by and watched her son sexually abuse?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Montano, A139919 (Cal. App. 2019):

As defendants acknowledge, the "spur of the moment" language in this instruction came directly from People v. Swanson-Birabent (2003) 114 Cal.App.4th 733, 742, in which the court held the evidence was sufficient to support a lewd and lascivious act conviction against the defendant where she stood by and watched while her boyfriend molested her daughter. (Id. at pp. 741-743.) The defendant argued that in order for her to be liable as an aider and abettor, she must have had advance knowledge that her boyfriend planned to molest her daughter. (Id. at p. 742.) The court rejected this argument, holding: "advance knowledge is not a prerequisite for liability as an aider and abettor. 'Aiding and abetting may be committed "on the spur of the moment," that is, as instantaneously as the criminal act itself.' " (Ibid.)

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