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First Draft of Report #22: Accomplice Liability and Related Provisions

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First Draft of Report #22: Accomplice Liability and Related Provisions First Draft of Report #22: Accomplice Liability and Related Provisions SUBMITTED FOR ADVISORY GROUP REVIEW MAY 18, 2018 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CRIMINAL CODE REFORM COMMISSION 441 FOURTH STREET, NW, SUITE 1C001 SOUTH WASHINGTON, DC 20001 PHONE: (202) 442-8715 www.ccrc.dc.gov First Draft of Report No. 22: Accomplice Liability and Related Provisions This Draft Report contains recommended reforms to District of Columbia criminal statutes for review by the D.C. Criminal Code Reform Commission’s statutorily designated Advisory Group. A copy of this document and a list of the current Advisory Group members may be viewed on the website of the D.C. Criminal Code Reform Commission at www.ccrc.dc.gov. This Draft Report has two parts: (1) draft statutory text for a new Title 22A of the D.C. Code; and (2) commentary on the draft statutory text. The commentary explains the meaning of each provision, considers whether existing District law would be changed by the provision (and if so, why this change is being recommended), and addresses the provision’s relationship to code reforms in other jurisdictions, as well as recommendations by the American Law Institute and other experts. Any Advisory Group member may submit written comments on any aspect of this Draft Report to the D.C. Criminal Code Reform Commission. The Commission will consider all written comments that are timely received from Advisory Group members. Additional versions of this Draft Report may be issued for Advisory Group review, depending on the nature and extent of the Advisory Group’s written comments. The D.C. Criminal Code Reform Commission’s final recommendations to the Council and Mayor for comprehensive criminal code reform will be based on the Advisory Group’s timely written comments and approved by a majority of the Advisory Group’s voting members. The deadline for the Advisory Group’s written comments on this First Draft of Report No. 22, Accomplice Liability and Related Provisions, is July 13, 2018 (eight weeks from the date of issue). Oral comments and written comments received after July 13, 2018 will not be reflected in the Second Draft of Report No. 22. All written comments received from Advisory Group members will be made publicly available and provided to the Council on an annual basis. 2 First Draft of Report No. 22: Accomplice Liability and Related Provisions § 22A-210 ACCOMPLICE LIABILITY (a) DEFINITION OF ACCOMPLICE LIABILITY. A person is an accomplice in the commission of an offense by another when, acting with the culpability required by that offense, the person: (1) Purposely assists another person with the planning or commission of conduct constituting that offense; or (2) Purposely encourages another person to engage in specific conduct constituting that offense. (b) PRINCIPLE OF CULPABLE MENTAL STATE ELEVATION APPLICABLE TO CIRCUMSTANCES OF TARGET OFFENSE. Notwithstanding subsection (a), to be an accomplice in the commission of an offense, the defendant must intend for any circumstances required by that offense to exist. (c) PRINCIPLE OF CULPABLE MENTAL STATE EQUIVALENCY APPLICABLE TO RESULTS WHEN DETERMINING DEGREE OF LIABILITY. An accomplice in the commission of an offense that is divided into degrees based upon distinctions in culpability as to results is liable for any grade for which he or she possesses the required culpability. (d) RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACCOMPLICE AND PRINCIPAL. An accomplice may be convicted of an offense upon proof of the commission of the offense and of his or her complicity therein, although the other person claimed to have committed the offense: (1) Has not been prosecuted or convicted; or (2) Has been convicted of a different offense or degree of an offense; or (3) Has been acquitted. COMMENTARY Explanatory Notes. Subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d) establish the elements of accomplice liability under the Revised Criminal Code (RCC). Collectively, these provisions provide a comprehensive statement of the conduct requirement and culpable mental state requirement of accomplice liability, alongside the relation between the prosecution of the accomplice and the treatment of the person who is alleged to have committed the offense. The prefatory clause of subsection (a) establishes two basic principles of accomplice liability. The first is that accomplice liability is a means of holding one person liable for “the commission of an offense by another” (rather than a separate offense). This general principle of derivative liability has two primary implications. First, a person may only be held criminally responsible under RCC § 210 upon proof that 3 First Draft of Report No. 22: Accomplice Liability and Related Provisions the person aided or abetted by the defendant in fact committed “an offense.”1 Note that this reference to “an offense” includes general inchoate crimes, such as a criminal attempt, solicitation, or conspiracy, all of which may serve as the basis for accomplice liability.2 Second, a person may be both prosecuted and—contingent upon such proof— punished under RCC § 210 as if he or she were the principal offender.3 The second principle contained in the prefatory clause of subsection (a) is that accomplice liability necessarily incorporates “the culpability required by [the target] offense.”4 Pursuant to this principle, a defendant may not be held liable as an accomplice absent proof that he or she acted with, at minimum, the culpable mental state(s)—in addition to any other broader aspect of culpability5—required to establish that offense.6 Subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) establish two alternative means of being an accomplice: by rendering assistance and by offering encouragement. The assistance prong envisions direct participation in commission of the crime as well as any support rendered in the earlier, planning stages. Typically, the assistance prong will be satisfied by conduct of an affirmative nature; however, an omission to act may also provide a viable basis for accomplice liability, provided that the defendant is under a legal duty to act (and the other requirements of liability are met).7 The encouragement prong describes the promotion of an offense by psychological influence. It covers various forms of influence, including (but not limited to) the rational or emotional support afforded by a command, request, or agreement, advice or counsel, and instigation, incitement, or provocation.8 1 See RCC § 210(d) (establishing that the legal disposition of the principal actor’s situation is generally immaterial to that of the accomplice). 2 For example, where A purposely assists P with a bank robbery scheme that ultimately fails because the police intervene right before P is able to enter the bank, A can be convicted as an accomplice to P’s attempted robbery. 3 Which is to say, RCC § 210, like the District’s prior complicity statute, is intended to dispense with the traditional common law distinctions between principals and “accessories,” thereby authorizing a defendant to be convicted directly of an offense committed by another for whose conduct the defendant is accountable. See D.C. Code § 22-1805 (“In prosecutions for any criminal offense all persons advising, inciting, or conniving at the offense, or aiding or abetting the principal offender, shall be charged as principals and not as accessories, the intent of this section being that as to all accessories before the fact the law heretofore applicable in cases of misdemeanor only shall apply to all crimes, whatever the punishment may be.”). 4 The term “culpability” includes, but also goes beyond, the culpable mental state requirement governing an offense. See RCC § 201(d) (culpability requirement defined). For additional principles governing the culpable mental state requirement of accomplice liability, see RCC § 210(b) (discussed infra notes 12–16 and accompanying text). 5 For example, if the offense aided or abetted requires proof of premeditation, deliberation, or the absence of any mitigating circumstances, the government is still required to prove these broader aspects of culpability to secure a conviction. 6 Accomplice liability is, of course, subject to the voluntariness requirement set forth in RCC § 203(a). See RCC § 201(d)(1) (noting that the voluntariness requirement is part of an offense’s culpability requirement). 7 See generally RCC § 202(c) (proscribing general principles of omission liability). For example, if A, a corrupt police officer, intentionally fails to stop a bank robbery committed by P, based upon P’s promise to provide A with a portion of the proceeds, A may be deemed an accomplice to the robbery. Likewise, if A, a parent, fails to prevent the sexual assault of her young child by P, her boyfriend, based upon P’s promise to marry A if she allows it to happen, A may be deemed an accomplice to the sexual assault. 8 It is immaterial, for purposes of accomplice liability, whether the encouragement is communicated orally, in writing, or through other means of expression. 4 First Draft of Report No. 22: Accomplice Liability and Related Provisions Whether assistance or encouragement is at issue, there is no requirement that the principal actor have actually been aware of the effect of the accomplice’s conduct. However, the accomplice’s conduct must have, in fact, assisted or encouraged the principal actor in some way. An unsuccessful accomplice is not subject to criminal liability under RCC § 210.9 Subsections (a)(1) and (2) also clarify that the requisite assistance or encouragement must be purposeful. There are two aspects of this “purposive
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