What is the test for determining whether an aider and abettor is guilty of a greater crime than the direct perpetrator?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Vasquez, B225354 (Cal. App. 2012):
People v. McCoy (2001) 25 Cal.4th 1111 held that "when a person, with the mental state necessary for an aider and abettor, helps or induces another to kill, that person's guilt is determined by the combined acts of all the participants as well as that person's own mens rea. If that person's mens rea is more culpable than another's, that person's guilt may be greater even if the other might be deemed the actual perpetrator." (Id. at pp. 1117, 1122.) In Samaniego we stated that, "[t]hough McCoy concluded that an aider and abettor could be guilty of a greater offense than the direct perpetrator, its reasoning leads inexorably to the further conclusion that an aider and abettor's guilt may also be less than the perpetrator's, if the aider and abettor has a less culpable mental state. . . . Consequently, CALCRIM No. 400's direction that '[a] person is equally guilty
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