Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania
Convicted as Accomplice
I pressed assault charges against my husband and was later arrested myself and charged as his accomplice. However, before his trial began he was given a plea to one misdeamor charge and the felonies were dropped due to lack of evidence. At my trial 3 mos later, I was convicted as an accomplice to all charges (5 felonies). Jury instructions were: ''to find guilty, State must prove that X committed a crime; that this Def. solicited, aided, etc. X in planning or committing them, etc.'' So if X's charges & plea were not mentioned, and he was not convicted of felonies; how did I get accomplice liability to crimes that do not exist? Our sentences were vastly different, too. I'm a bit confused. Thanks for any help you can offer.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Convicted as Accomplice
It doesn't matter what he plead guilty to. What matters is if there was evidence to convict you of what YOU were charged with. The "crimes" still exist whether or not he plead guilty to something else.
Re: Convicted as Accomplice
The conviction, or non-conviction, of the other person, your co-defendant, is not relevant to your case because the trier of fact in your case is only charged with the duty of determining whether you are guilty or not guilty of the crime or crimes of which you are accused. Your question would only be relevant if you called your co-defendant to testify as your witness in your trial. If you did call them to testify that you were not involved in the alleged acts, the district attorney could then question the co-defendant on whether they had plead guilty to conspiracy and ask who is the conspirator: you.
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