California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Otero, B225496 (Cal. App. 2012):
Samaniego held that, when a person aids and abets a killing, the aider and abettor's guilt is determined by the combined acts of the participants as well as by the aider and abettor's own mens rea. Thus, when the aider and abettor's mens rea is more culpable than the actual killer's mens rea, the aider and abettor's guilt may be found to be greater. (See Samaniego, supra, 172 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1164-1165, discussing People v. McCoy (2001) 25 Cal.4th 1111, 1117, 1122 (McCoy). Conversely, when the aider and
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