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People v. McCoy | 24 P.3d 1210 (2001)

If a person aids, assists, or encourages another to commit a crime, the person may face accomplice liability. In People versus McCoy, we explore whether an accomplice can ever be convicted of a more serious offense than an actual perpetrator.

As Ejaan McCoy drove past a street corner, someone fired shots at his car. Later the same day, McCoy returned to the intersection with Derrick Lakey. As McCoy’s vehicle approached the intersection, he noticed three men standing nearby, one holding something looking like a gun. McCoy, believing the man was about to shoot, pulled his own gun and opened fire on the group. Lakey also drew his own weapon and began to shoot. McCoy’s bullets struck two men, killing one.

McCoy and Lakey were charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder. McCoy argued that he acted on an unreasonable, but good-faith, belief that self-defense was necessary, and he could therefore only be liable for the less-serious offenses of voluntary manslaughter and attempted voluntary manslaughter. The trial judge issued a jury instruction on that defense.

The trial-court jury, however, convicted both McCoy and Lakey of first-degree murder and attempted murder. The appeals court reversed both convictions—McCoy’s because the jury instruction on unreasonable self-defense was erroneous, and Lakey’s because there was a chance that, on retrial, McCoy would be convicted of voluntary manslaughter, and the court believed Lakey, as an aider and abettor, couldn’t be liable for a more serious offense than McCoy. The prosecution appealed to the California Supreme Court, contesting only the reversal of Lakey’s conviction.

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