Texas Penal Code Chapter 7 holds an individual liable for criminal actions committed by someone else. Texas aiding and abetting laws diminish or abolish the difference between the principal criminal actor and the accomplice.
For example, if you provide another person with a gun knowing that he or she plans to use it in the commission of a robbery, you risk being charged with an act of robbery once it occurs.
Aiding and abetting another party’s commission of a crime might include:
- Failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent another person from committing a criminal act
- Failure to report the commission of a crime under “mandatory reporter status” (or alert law enforcement to a potential commission of a crime)
- Agreeing to purchase a firearm for another party to use in the commission of a crime
- Providing aid to another person who desires to engage in the commission of a crime
- Aiding another party in the commission of a crime
- Attempting to help another person in the commission of a crime
- Directing another party to commit a crime
- Encouraging another person to commit a crime
- Soliciting another party to commit a criminal act