California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Beghtel, 164 Cal.App.2d 294, 330 P.2d 444 (Cal. App. 1958):
The sufficiency of the foregoing evidence to sustain the judgment of conviction is self evident from its recital 'All persons concerned in the commission of a crime, whether it be felony or misdemeanor, and whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense, or aid and abet in its commission, or, not being present, have advised and encouraged its commission, * * * are principals in any crime so committed.' Penal Code, 31. All participants in a robbery are chargeable as principals and are equally guilty. People v. Best, 43 Cal.App.2d 100, 105, 110 P.2d 504.
Manifestly the evidence afforded a more than adequate basis for the inference that appellant participated in the robbery by driving the get-away car. As stated in People v. Raucho, 8 Cal.App.2d 655, 664, 47 P.2d 1108, 1112, '* * * the perpetration of a robbery is not completed the moment the stolen property is in the possession of the robbers. Robbery, a combination of the crime of assault with that of larceny, includes, as does larceny, the element of asportation, and this taking away is a transaction which continues as the perpetrators depart from the place where the property was seized.'
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