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Criminal Law • Accomplice Liability
CRIMLAW#071
Legal Definition
An accessory after the fact is one who, with the intent to help a felon escape or avoid arrest or trial, receives, relieves, or assists a known felon after the felony has been completed. An accessory after the fact is not responsible for the principal's crimes, but rather for obstructing justice.
Plain English Explanation
The law doesn't require people to go out of their way to help police catch criminals, but it absolutely punishes people that go out of their way to provide assistance to criminals (especially when it makes it harder to find them or prosecute them). An accessory after the fact is a type of accomplice that provides assistance to a criminal after they committed their crime. The assistance they provide is usually either (a) helping the criminal avoid or hide from police, or (b) helping the criminal hide the product of their crime (like stolen property or money).
Hypothetical
Hypo 1: One night, Sam is preparing himself a nice hot cup of tea before bed. He hears a distant police siren. Moments later, he hears a frantic banging on his front door. He opens it and finds his friend, Bob, covered in blood, wearing a ski mask, holding a gun in one hand and comical bag of cash in the other. Bob says, "Hey, bro! Can I hide in here for a bit?" Sam says, "Sure" and lets Bob in. Result: Sam had nothing to do with Bob's obvious crimes, but he is helping to hide Bob from police. Thus, Sam is an accessory after the fact.
