Brief filed: 08/09/2013
Documents
Rosemond v. United States
United States Supreme Court; Case No. 12-895
Prior Decision
Decision below 695 F.3d 1151 (10th Cir. 2012).
Argument(s)
The Majority Rule is consistent with basic principles of the law of aiding and abetting. To prove aiding and abetting, the government must establish that the defendant participated in and sought to facilitate the commission of the principal’s crime. To prove aiding and abetting of a crime with a predicate-offense element, the government must establish that the defendant participated in and sought to facilitate the entire crime, not merely the predicate offense element. As applied to aiding and abetting a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924 (c), these principles require the government to establish that the defendant participated in and sought to facilitate the use or carrying of the firearm during and in relation to the predicate offense. The Tenth Circuit’s rule eliminates both the actus reus and the mens rea requirements for aiding and abetting.
Author(s)
Dan Himmelfarb and E. Brantley Webb, Mayer Brown LLP, Washington, DC; Barbara E. Bergman, Albuquerque, NM.
