Opinion ID: 1930660
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Evidence of Aiding and Abetting Felony Murder

Text: [12,13] We also find the evidence sufficient to sustain the jury's finding that the defendant was an aider and abettor to Clinton's attempted robbery. The aiding and abetting statute, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-206 (Reissue 1995), provides that [a] person who aids, abets, procures, or causes another to commit any offense may be prosecuted and punished as if he were the principal offender. Aiding and abetting requires some participation in a criminal act and must be evidenced by some word, act, or deed. No particular acts are necessary, nor is it necessary that the defendant take physical part in the commission of the crime or that there was an express agreement to commit the crime. Mere encouragement or assistance is sufficient. State v. McPherson, 266 Neb. 715, 668 N.W.2d 488 (2003). When a crime requires the existence of a particular intent, an alleged aider or abettor can be held criminally liable as a principal if the aider or abettor knew that the perpetrator of the act possessed the required intent or that the aider or abettor himself possessed the required intent. State v. Leonor, 263 Neb. 86, 638 N.W.2d 798 (2002). McSpadden's testimony indicated that the defendant was present and heard Clinton demanding a pocket check, which she described as telling the victim to give him everything in his pockets. Then, when Clinton was unsuccessful in his attempts to get the victim to give up what he had, the defendant handed Clinton the gun. Valentine and Clinton, in contrast, indicated that the demands for a pocket check did not start until after the defendant handed Clinton a gun, but they also described that the defendant remained there after giving Clinton the gun and verbally encouraged Clinton to carry through with the pocket check. After Clinton fired the first shot in furtherance of the robbery and they had dispersed for fear of the arrival of the police, Valentine, Clinton, and Rafael all testified that it was the defendant who called them back. To varying degrees, McSpadden, Valentine, Clinton, Rafael, McIntyre, and even defense witness Russell, testified that the defendant assisted Clinton's entry into the apartment in Clinton's continued pursuit of the victim. As the victim refused to give in to Clinton's demands, Valentine, Clinton, and Rafael's testimony was that the defendant encouraged Clinton not to back down. Instead, the defendant told Clinton to take care of his business. As described by Rafael, the victim himself recognized that the defendant was a participant in the attempted robbery when he directed his refusals to give you all my shit to both the defendant and to Clinton. Only the testimony of Harrison and Johnson described the defendant as arriving innocently at the scene after the attempted robbery and the shooting had occurred. [14] The defendant does not, in fact, deny the evidence discussed above. Instead, his real argument seems to be that the evidence was insufficient because any testimony supporting felony murder in this case was from biased witnesses, while the testimony contrary to a finding of felony murder was from allegedly disinterested witnesses. This argument has no merit. In reviewing a criminal conviction, it is not the province of an appellate court to resolve conflicts in the evidence, pass on the credibility of witnesses, determine the plausibility of explanations, or reweigh the evidence. State v. Gales, 269 Neb. 443, 694 N.W.2d 124 (2005). The jury's decision to credit the State's witnesses will not be revisited by this court. The defendant also argues that the evidence was insufficient on these counts because the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant's conduct proximately caused the commission of the attempted robbery and the victim's death. The defendant explains that taking the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, one might argue that there was evidence presented that the jury tended to believe that indicated that [the defendant] handed a firearm to Clinton. Brief for appellant at 34. However, the defendant asserts that there was an efficient intervening cause. The defendant explains that after the defendant allegedly handed Clinton the firearm, Clinton shot at the ground, there was more posturing, the parties dispersed, and then regrouped at which point a struggle occurred and Clinton shot the victim. This, he asserts, precludes proximate cause. [15] Insofar as defendant can be construed as arguing that an aider and abettor must proximately cause the underlying crime in order to be found guilty, such argument is in error. An aider and abettor is accountable for that which is proximately caused by the principal's conduct regardless of whether the crime would have occurred without the aider and abettor's participation. Generally, the element of proximate cause is met by the perpetrator's act, not by the actions of the aider and abettor. See, § 28-206; State v. Contreras, 268 Neb. 797, 688 N.W.2d 580 (2004); State v. McPherson, 266 Neb. 715, 668 N.W.2d 488 (2003); State v. Quintana, 261 Neb. 38, 621 N.W.2d 121 (2001). Here, there is no dispute that the victim's death was proximately caused by Clinton's shooting the victim. The evidence is sufficient to show that this shooting flowed from the course of an attempted robbery and that the defendant was an aider and abettor to that crime. There is no deficiency of proof as to the element of proximate cause. Inasmuch as the defendant's argument can be construed as asserting that the crime of attempted robbery which the defendant aided and abetted had somehow ceased before the fatal shooting, and thus the shooting flowed from a new and separate attempted robbery in which the defendant did not participate, it is contrary to the facts presented at trial. As outlined above, the defendant, during the alleged intervening cause of dispersing and regrouping, as well as the events that took place thereafter, continued to aid and abet the crimes that Clinton committed.