California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Montoya, C082283 (Cal. App. 2019):
measured by whether a reasonable person in the defendant's position would have or should have known that the charged offense was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the act aided and abetted.' " [Citation.] Reasonable foreseeability "is a factual issue to be resolved by the [trier of fact]." ' " (People v. Smith (2014) 60 Cal.4th 603, 611.)
"In the context of murder, the natural and probable consequences doctrine serves the legitimate public policy concern of deterring aiders and abettors from aiding or encouraging the commission of offenses that would naturally, probably, and foreseeably result in an unlawful killing. A primary rationale for punishing such aiders and abettors -- to deter them from aiding or encouraging the commission of offenses -- is served by holding them culpable for the perpetrator's commission of the nontarget offense of second degree murder." (People v. Chiu (2014) 59 Cal.4th 155, 165.) "[P]unishment for second degree murder is commensurate with a defendant's culpability for aiding and abetting a target crime that would naturally, probably, and foreseeably result in a murder under the natural and probable consequences doctrine." (Id. at p. 166.)
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