Also known as: accomplices
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A person who with the purpose of promoting or facilitating the commission of an offense solicits another to commit it or aids or agrees or attempts to aid another in planning or committing it. The person may also become an accomplice by having a legal duty to prevent the offense and failing to make a proper effort to do so. An accomplice is legally accountable for the conduct of the principal even if the principal is not prosecuted or convicted.
Elena served as a probation officer under a court order requiring her to monitor Cole, a violent offender. Through GPS logs she learned Cole was planning an armed robbery in a rival neighborhood. Elena intentionally failed to report the violation or detain Cole. Her knowing omission while under a legal duty to prevent the offense made her an accomplice to the robbery.
Captain Aidan instructed chief officer Sylvia to underreport hazardous materials on the ship's manifest to speed port clearance. He framed the instruction as routine practice among other captains. Aidan's purposeful request that Sylvia falsify the document established his liability as an accomplice to the offense.
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Regional director Maxwell ordered route supervisor Alec to dump hazardous waste at an unpermitted site and supplied maps and falsification advice. Alec then directed driver Anita to carry out the dumps. Because Maxwell acted with the culpability required for the resulting environmental harm, he was an accomplice in the offense that produced that result.
Brandon and Curtis entered a campus lab to steal laptops and tied graduate student Saul inside a supply closet. An unattended Bunsen burner ignited a fire that killed Saul. Because Brandon was an accomplice in the burglary, the resulting death triggered the presumption of extreme indifference to human life.
Arthur Abrams assisted another in performing an abortion prohibited by statute. The statute expressly made anyone who furnished means knowing the purpose guilty as an accomplice. Abrams's knowing assistance therefore subjected him to accomplice liability under the provision.
Aaron Adams participated with another in private consensual conduct that was then criminalized. Under prevailing evidence rules a consenting partner was treated as an accomplice whose testimony required corroboration. The accomplice classification therefore affected the prosecution's ability to prove the offense.
No. Accomplice liability arises from solicitation, aiding, or failing to act under a legal duty even when the accomplice is not physically present when the principal commits the offense.
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Yes. An accomplice may be convicted on proof of the commission of the offense and of the defendant's complicity even if the principal has not been prosecuted, has been acquitted, or has an immunity.
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The accomplice must act with the purpose of promoting or facilitating the commission of the offense when soliciting, aiding, or agreeing to aid the principal.
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Yes. When a person has a legal duty to prevent the commission of an offense and fails to make a proper effort to do so while acting with the purpose of promoting the offense, that person is an accomplice.
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…1192. Furnishing the means "Whoever furnishes the means for procuring an abortion knowing the purpose intended is guilty as an accomplice. "Art. 1193. Attempt at abortion "If the means used shall fail to produce an abortion, the offender is nevertheless guilty of an attempt to produce abortion, provided it be shown that…