Opinion ID: 377984
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Instruction Regarding Aiding and Abetting

Text: 6 Appellant first contends that the district court erred in instructing the jury that under 18 U.S.C. § 2 whoever aids or abets in the commission of an offense is punishable as a principal. 1 He argues that he was charged only with two conspiracy counts, not with aiding and abetting; the instructions regarding aiding and abetting erroneously expanded the theories upon which the jury could convict, allowing the jury to convict him of the separate and distinct crime of aiding and abetting rather than of the crimes of conspiracy with which he was charged; furthermore, the instructions, in effect, reduced the government's burden of proof. 7 The court did not err in giving an instruction on aiding and abetting even though the defendant was not specifically indicted on that count. As we noted in United States v. Bullock, 451 F.2d 884, 888 (5th Cir. 1971), 18 U.S.C. § 2 is an alternative charge in every count, whether explicit or implicit, and the rule is well-established, both in this circuit and others, that one who has been indicted as a principal may be convicted on evidence showing that he merely aided and abetted the commission of the offense. 2 8 Neither can we agree that the charge embodying 18 U.S.C. § 2 allowed the jury to convict Walker on a separate charge from those stated in the indictment. 18 U.S.C. § 2 does not define a crime. It simply makes punishable as a principal one who aids or abets the commission of a substantive crime. United States v. Cowart, 595 F.2d 1023 (5th Cir. 1979); Powers v. United States, 470 F.2d 991 (5th Cir. 1972). 9 Appellant seeks to distinguish these cases, urging that he was charged not as a principal, but as a conspirator in a conspiracy, a distinct inchoate offense similar to, but different from aiding and abetting. However, if we accept the Eighth Circuit's ruling in United States v. Rector, 538 F.2d 223, 225 (8th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 963, 99 S.Ct. 2410, 60 L.Ed.2d 1068 (1979), that 18 U.S.C. § 2 is applicable to the entire criminal code, 3 it would be applicable to conspiracy. Indeed, the Ninth Circuit has upheld convictions for aiding and abetting a conspiracy. 4 10 Relying on language in Nye and Nissen v. United States, 336 U.S. 613, 69 S.Ct. 766, 93 L.Ed. 919 (1949), appellant contends that the law of aiding and abetting is broader in scope than conspiracy; that by instructing the jury on the broader charge of aiding and abetting, the court reduced the government's burden of proof, thereby making a conviction more likely on the narrower charge of conspiracy. 11 Appellant's interpretation of Nye and Nissen is incorrect. In Nye and Nissen the Supreme Court held that aiding and abetting had a broader application than the rule announced in Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946), in which the Supreme Court decided that a defendant may be found guilty of the substantive offense even though he did no more than join the conspiracy if the substantive offense was committed in furtherance of the conspiracy and as a part of it. 12 Justice Douglas in Nye and Nissen found that although there was not enough evidence to convict the defendant of the substantive counts, there was circumstantial evidence wholly adequate to support the finding of the jury that the defendant aided and abetted in the commission of the offenses: 13 We see therefore no reason to exculpate him as an aider and abettor. There was no inadequacy in the charge to the jury on that theory. Nor was the submission in conflict with Pinkerton v. United States, supra. The rule of that case does service where the conspiracy was one to commit offenses of the character described in the substantive counts. Aiding and abetting has a broader application. It makes a defendant a principal when he consciously shares in any criminal act whether or not there is a conspiracy. And if a conspiracy is also charged, it makes no difference so far as aiding and abetting is concerned whether the substantive offense is done pursuant to the conspiracy. Pinkerton v. United States is narrow in its scope. Aiding and abetting rests on a broader base; it states a rule of criminal responsibility for acts which one assists another in performing. The fact that a particular case might conceivably be submitted to the jury on either theory is irrelevant. It is sufficient if the proof adduced and the basis on which it was submitted were sufficient to support the verdict. 14 336 U.S. at 619-20, 69 S.Ct. at 770. 15 Thus, in Nye and Nissen the Court simply held that aiding and abetting makes a defendant liable as a principal when he consciously shares in any criminal act, whether or not there is a conspiracy. Accordingly, appellant can find no support in Nye and Nissen for his argument that the instruction on aiding and abetting reduced the government's burden of proof.