California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Superior Court (Bennett), 223 Cal.App.3d 1166, 273 Cal.Rptr. 71 (Cal. App. 1990):
"A reviewing court may not substitute its judgment as to the weight of the evidence for that of the magistrate, and, if there is some evidence to support the information, the court will not inquire into its sufficiency. [Citations.] Every legitimate inference that may be drawn from the evidence must be drawn in favor of the information. [Citations.]" (Rideout v. Superior Court (1967) 67 Cal.2d 471, 474, 62 Cal.Rptr. 581, 432 P.2d 197.)
Where an accomplice is killed by a victim or a law enforcement officer during the commission of a robbery, a defendant may be convicted of murder based either on direct liability arising from the defendant's own acts or vicarious liability arising from the acts of the defendant's accomplices. 4 " 'When the defendant or his accomplice, with a conscious disregard for life, intentionally commits an act that is likely to cause death, and his victim or a police officer kills in reasonable response to such act, the defendant is guilty of murder.... [Citation.]" (Taylor v. Superior Court, supra, 3 Cal.3d 578, 582-583, 91 Cal.Rptr. 275, 477 P.2d 131.)
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