Criminal liability in California can extend to anyone who contributes to the offense before or after the offense. Helping or encouraging someone to commit a crime could result in charges for being an accessory before the fact. This means you encouraged the offender to commit the crime or participated in any activities leading up to the offense. If you are charged as an accessory before the fact, contact Los Angeles Criminal Attorney to prepare a defense against these charges. Meanwhile, here's everything you need to know about being an accessory before the fact.
Legal Definition of an Accessory Before the Fact
You are considered an accessory before the fact if you either help or encourage another person to commit a crime. In California, you are an accessory if you encourage or assist the person before or during the offense. In some states, however, being an accessory before the fact means you were not present at the scene of the crime but helped or encouraged the crime.
You can be charged with being an accessory before the fact by doing any of the following:
- Being the getaway driver
- Providing the tools or resources necessary to commit a crime
- Serving as a lookout during the commission of the crime
- Offering the information required to commit the crime
- Participating or helping in the commission of the crime
- Preventing police officers from accessing a crime scene
- Preventing other people who are trying to stop the crime
- Hiring a person to commit a crime
- Telling another person to commit the crime
- Failing to prevent a crime when you have the legal duty to prevent it
When you are an accessory before the fact in California, you will be charged under the state’s aiding and abetting laws. These laws define the offense as helping another person commit a crime. The offense carries elements such as:
- A person commits an offense
- You knew the offender intended to commit the crime
- You intended to help the offender commit the crime (before or during the actual crime)
- Your conduct helped the offender commit the crime
The prosecution must prove the above elements before you can be convicted for being an accessory before the fact.
Note that being an accessory before the fact doesn't need to happen before the crime – it can happen at the time of the offense. If you are aware of the crime and intentionally encourage or promote it, you become an accomplice to the offender.
The Difference Between an Accessory Before the Fact and a Conspirator
Aiding and abetting a crime or being an accessory before the fact is different from being a conspirator to a crime. In California, the law defines conspiracy as:
- Agreeing with another person to commit a crime
- One of the parties in the agreement takes overt action toward fulfilling the crime
- At least one of these acts was committed in California
An overt act is an action that could be innocent, but when taken in the context of an offense, it helps further the defendant's involvement in a crime. These actions may include:
- Purchasing maps of the intended scene of the crime
- Meeting to discuss the details of the crime further
- Buying the tools and equipment required for the offense
- Scouting the location of the intended crime
Unlike being an accessory, being a conspirator means you have made prior arrangements and have a common purpose for committing a crime. This agreement must neither be formal nor written to be guilty of conspiracy.
The critical difference between being an accessory before the fact and a conspirator is the timing of your involvement in the offender’s crime. Here’s an example:
Julie and Roger are in a relationship. Julie works as an accountant at a local store. They want to go on a vacation but do not have enough money to cover all their expenses. Julie suggests they embezzle funds from her employer. Roger agrees and proceeds to set up bank accounts to facilitate money transfers from Julie’s store.
In this case, Roger is guilty of conspiracy as he took an overt action as part of the offense and has been involved since its inception.
Note that opening a bank account is in itself an innocent act. However, given the nature of the plans between Julie and Roger, it is considered an overt act committed to further a crime.
Now, suppose Roger wants to defraud Julie’s store. He informs Julie about his plan and asks for vital financial information about the store, and Julie provides it. In this case, Julie is guilty of aiding and abetting (or is an accessory before the fact). Julie does not have to participate in the crime itself, but since she provided information that allows Roger to further his intention to defraud the store, she could be charged as an accessory.
What to Expect When Charged as an Accessory Before the Fact
In most cases, an accessory before the fact, the principal offender often mentioned your involvement or participation in the crime – often as part of their plea deal or as a confession. When you are arrested for being an accessory, you should hire an attorney as soon as possible.
Accessory to a crime is charged based on the underlying offense. Therefore, if you were an accessory to a serious felony, you would receive a sentence similar to the felony charge. Therefore, if you were an accessory before the fact of a rape crime, you will be convicted as if you committed the rape yourself.
It's, therefore, critical that you find a criminal defense lawyer as soon as possible to gather the evidence to fight the charges you are facing. The defense mainly involves challenging the elements of the offense and the evidence the prosecution may have that ties you to the offense.
Fighting Charges of Accessory Before the Fact
Whether or not you participate in a crime, you can be charged and convicted for being an accessory before the fact. The penalties are harsh, often equivalent to the principal offender's sentence.
Nonetheless, you can fight these charges by working with a criminal defense attorney to develop a strong defense for your case. The defense can include some of the following legal arguments:
1. You Did Not Encourage the Commission of a Crime
You become an accessory before the fact if you encourage, facilitate or help another person commit a crime. However, if you did neither of these, you cannot be charged with aiding and abetting.
For example, if you are merely present at the crime scene, with no prior knowledge that a crime would occur, then you can use this defense. People who are accessories intentionally encourage, participate, or facilitate a crime.
2. No Knowledge of the Crime
An accessory before the fact is guilty of encouraging the commission of a crime. This means that they are aware of the principal’s intention to commit a crime, yet they proceed to help them commit the crime.
Therefore, you can use the lack of knowledge defense if you were unaware that the principal intended to commit a crime.
3. False Accusations
The prosecution does not have to present physical evidence of your involvement in helping or encouraging another person to commit a crime. This means that another person can falsely accuse you of being the one behind the crime to avoid liability. False accusations could also result from malice and a desire to settle a score.
Fighting false accusations should be your priority. Hire an attorney who will employ various strategies to expose these false accusations. Some of the best strategies to fight false accusations include:
- Collecting any physical evidence that proves you did not aid or abet the crime
- Evaluate police reports of the crime to find witnesses who provided information leading to your arrest. Your attorney will talk to the witnesses to determine their credibility and the consistency of their narrative about the crime.
- Identify instances of fabricated testimony from the principal offender and witnesses.
4. Withdrawal
If you withdrew from participating in the crime before it occurred and:
- Informed other participants of your intention to withdraw
- and did everything you could to prevent the commission of the crime
Then you are not guilty of being an accessory to the crime. For example, if you and a friend plan to rob a store, but before you arrive at the location, you tell your friend that you do not wish to continue. You try to persuade them not to commit the offense, but they do not listen to you. You place an anonymous tip to the police about the robbery.
In this case, you have met all the elements of withdrawing from a crime. By reporting the robbery to the police, you have taken sufficient steps to prevent the occurrence of the crime. However, if you went home after persuading your friend, then the court will argue that that was not a sufficient step to prevent the crime from occurring.
5. Duress
Duress is an affirmative defense where you agree that you were an accessory before the fact, but only because you were forced or threatened into it. When using the duress defense, you must prove that the following elements were true at the time you aided or abetted the principal in committing a crime:
- The principal issued an immediate threat of serious injury or death
- You were reasonably and justifiably afraid that the principal would carry out the threat
- You did not have a reasonable way or opportunity to escape the threatened harm except by helping the principal commit the crime.
An immediate threat poses a real danger at the moment. This means that a threat of harm in the future does not apply in this defense. For example, if a robber carjacks a car and forces the driver to drive with a gun pointed to their head, the driver can cite duress as a defense to committing the crime.
The gun to their head implies that they are in immediate danger of death or serious injury should they fail to comply with the robber's demands. These threats do not have to be stated directly; they can be inferred from words or actions. For example, the action of pointing a gun at someone's head is enough to create a fear of immediate harm to another person.
You must also demonstrate that a reasonable person under the same circumstances would have been afraid. In addition to reasonable fear, you must show that you had no way of avoiding the threat other than by helping the person commit the crime.
When using duress as a defense, you have the burden of proof to demonstrate that the elements of duress were true beyond a reasonable doubt.
6. You Had No Legal Duty
Some people have the legal duty to stop a crime if they know someone intends to commit it or they see someone committing a crime. However, if you have no specific legal obligation to stop a crime, you can use this as a defense to accusations of aiding or abetting.
7. You Helped the Principal Offender after the Crime
IF you helped someone after committing the crime, you could use this as a defense for being an accessory before the fact. However, it could still result in charges of being an accessory after the fact.
Accessories before the fact are treated more harshly than accessories after the fact – meaning that helping someone after they have already committed a crime carries a lesser penalty than assisting them before the crime.
Related Offenses
Accessory before the fact is a legal term that describes the crime of helping, encouraging, or facilitating the commission of a crime. The offense is related to other offenses such as conspiracy, accessory after the fact, and attempted crimes.
1. Accessory After the Fact
Being an accessory before the fact is more serious than being an accessory after the fact. An accessory after the fact is a person who helps a principal offender after committing a crime.
You can become an accessory after the fact by knowingly helping a person who has committed a criminal act to escape arrest, trial, or sentencing for a crime they committed.
Some of the actions that could make you an accessory after the fact include:
- Helping a person financially after they commit a felony
- Driving the getaway car for a robber
- Helping a person hide from law enforcement at a crime scene
- Offering an alibi for your friend who committed an offense
Being an accessory after the fact is a wobbler offense. Your criminal history and the case facts will determine whether you receive penalties for a felony or misdemeanor offense.
For the misdemeanor offense, the jail term is up to a year with a fine of up to $5000. For a felony offense, you face up to three years in state prison and up to $5000 in fines.
Since being an accessory after the fact is a less severe offense, it can be used as an effective defense against being an accessory before the fact.
2. Criminal Conspiracy
Criminal conspiracy under PC 182 is the offense of agreeing with one or more people to commit a crime and taking an action that furthers the agreement. Criminal conspiracy is closely related to being an accessory before the fact, with the difference that an accessory before the fact has no agreement with the principal offender to commit the crime.
Criminal conspiracy is punished depending on the underlying offense. For instance, if you conspired to commit a robbery, the penalties will equal those of a robbery. In cases where you conspired to commit multiple penalties, the court will impose the penalties of the felony charge with the harshest sentence.
3. Attempted Crime
It is a crime under PC 664 to attempt to commit a crime. The definition of attempted crime is a failed attempt at breaking the law. This means that you intended to commit a crime and took a direct action towards committing that crime.
Some of the common attempted crimes include:
- Attempted murder
- Attempted robbery
- Attempted rape
The idea behind attempted crimes is that offenders should be held responsible for crimes they intend to complete, even if they were unsuccessful due to an intervening factor.
If you are convicted of an attempted crime, the sentence is half the sentence of the crime you intended to complete. For instance, if a crime carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison, you will be imprisoned for up to five years for the attempted crime.
Find a Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Near Me
Helping another person commit a crime is a crime in California that could see you spend an equal amount of time behind bars as the person who committed the offense. Accessories before the fact are people who participate, encourage or instigate the commission of a crime. When charged with being an accessory, contact Los Angeles Criminal Attorney as soon as possible. Legal counsel is vital in helping you prepare a defense to fight the charges you are facing. Call us at 424-333-0943 to schedule a free consultation.
