Is a person who aids and abetts the commission of a crime a principal in that crime?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Garcia, B305691 (Cal. App. 2021):

"A person who aids and abets the commission of a crime is culpable as a principal in that crime. ( 31.) Aiding and abetting is not a separate offense but a form of derivative liability for the underlying crime. [Citation.] Our law recognizes two forms of liability for aiders and abettors. [Citation.] First, under direct aiding and abetting principles, an accomplice is guilty of an offense perpetrated by another if the accomplice aids the commission of that offense with "knowledge of the direct perpetrator's unlawful intent and [with] an intent to assist in achieving those unlawful ends.' [Citation.]" (People v. Gentile (2020) 10 Cal.5th 830, 843 (Gentile).) "Second, under the natural and probable consequences doctrine, an accomplice is guilty not only of the offense he or she directly aided or abetted (i.e., the

target offense), but also of any other offense committed by the direct perpetrator that was the 'natural and probable consequence' of the crime the accomplice aided and abetted (i.e., the nontarget offense)." (Ibid.) Under the (no-longer-valid) natural and probable consequence theory," 'if a person aids and abets only an intended assault, but a murder results, that person may be guilty of that murder, even if unintended, if it is a natural and probable consequence of the intended assault.' [Citation.]" (Id. at p. 844.)

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