Is there any case law supporting the death penalty for an accomplice to a murder?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Dillon, 194 Cal.Rptr. 390, 34 Cal.3d 441, 668 P.2d 697 (Cal. 1983):

[34 Cal.3d 502] In Enmund v. Florida (1982) 458 U.S. 782, 102 S.Ct. 3368, 73 L.Ed.2d 1140, the high court held that the death penalty was a disproportionate punishment as applied to an accomplice to a robbery and murder who had neither killed nor intended to kill the victim. As the high court stated, "Enmund did not kill or intend to kill and thus his culpability is plainly different from that of the robbers who killed; yet the state treated them alike .... This was impermissible under the Eighth Amendment." (P. ----, 102 S.Ct. at p. 3377.) In the present case, of course, the record discloses that defendant both personally and intentionally shot and killed his victim. No accomplice was involved. Thus, Enmund certainly is no authority for the majority's holding that defendant cannot be subjected to a "life" sentence for first degree murder.

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