California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Delamora, C076142 (Cal. App. 2016):
The natural and probable consequences doctrine applies to conspirators and aiders and abettors. (People v. Prettyman (1996) 14 Cal.4th 248, 260-261.) It provides that
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"each member of a conspiracy is criminally responsible for the acts of fellow conspirators committed in furtherance of, and which follow as a natural and probable consequence of, the conspiracy, even though such acts were not intended by the conspirators as a part of their common unlawful design." (People v. Zielesch (2009) 179 Cal.App.4th 731, 739.) Whether an unplanned crime is a natural and probable consequence of a conspiracy to commit the intended crime does not depend on whether a conspirator " 'actually foresaw the additional crime, but whether, judged objectively, [the unplanned crime] was reasonably foreseeable.' [Citation.]" (Ibid.) An unplanned crime need not even have been a strong probability. (Ibid.) "Whether the unplanned act was a 'reasonably foreseeable consequence' of the conspiracy must be 'evaluated under all the factual circumstances of the individual case' and 'is a factual issue to be resolved by the jury' [citation], whose determination is conclusive if supported by substantial evidence [citations]." (Id. at pp. 739-740.)
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