Law Update: Exceptions to Aiding and Abetting Felony Murder

Newly enacted exceptions to aiding and abetting felony first and second-degree murder.

Within the recently enacted public safety bill, the Legislature has created exceptions to the aiding and abetting statute, Minnesota Statutes section 609.05, for felony first-degree murder under Minnesota Statutes section 609.185, subdivision (a)(3) and felony second-degree murder under Minnesota Statutes section 609.19, subdivision 2(1).   The exceptions will go into effect August 1, 2023, and will apply retroactively.  As such, there will be individuals who are currently serving long prison sentences, including sentences of life in prison, who may be eligible for relief under the newly enacted exceptions.

The exceptions will limit liability for accomplices who did not cause the death of the victim and did not have the intent to aid in causing of the death of the victim.  The exceptions should protect those individuals who were passive participants in crimes that resulted in a death of a victim.  Previously, passive participants have been swept up in murder prosecutions under aiding-and-abetting theories of liability without having any intent to aid in the causing of the death of the victim.

The new exception to felony aiding-and-abetting first-degree murder states:

A person may not be held criminally liable for a violation of section 609.185, paragraph (a), clause (3) for a death caused by another unless the person intentionally aided, advised, hired, counseled, or conspired with or otherwise procured the other with the intent to cause the death of a human being.

Minn. Stat.  609.05, subd. 2a.  The new exception to felony aiding-and-abetting second-degree murder states:

A person may not be held liable for a violation of section 609.19, subdivision 2, clause 1, for the death caused by another unless the person was a major participant in the underlying felony and acted with extreme indifference to human life.

As used in this subdivision, “major participant” means a person who

(1) used a deadly weapon during the commission of the underlying felony or provided a deadly weapon to another participant where it was reasonably foreseeable that the weapon would be used in the underlying felony;

(2) caused substantial bodily harm to another during the commission of the underlying felony;

(3) coerced or hired a participant to undertake actions in furtherance of the underlying felony that proximately caused the death, and where it was reasonably foreseeable that such actions would cause death or great bodily harm; or

(4) impeded another person from preventing the death either by physical action or by threat of physical action where it was reasonably foreseeable that death or great bodily harm would result.

Minn. Stat. § 609.05, subd. 2(b), (c) (1)-4).

If you believe you, or someone you know, may be eligible for relief under the newly enacted exceptions to the aiding-and-abetting statute please contact Johnson Erickson Criminal Defense to have an attorney evaluate the circumstances of the case.

Previous
Previous

The Clean Slate Act: Minnesota’s New Automatic Expungement Law