THE LAW OF PARTIES

The law parties in criminal law refers to Illegal doctrine that holds you liable for crimes committed by someone else.  That's right you could be held liable for a crime you didn't even commit. In this blog I'll explain how the law of parties works and how you could spend a lot of time in jail for something you didn't do.

I'm Andrew Williams. I'm board certified in criminal law and I have over 30 years of trial practice behind me.  I share my years of experience with you to give you a better idea of the law and maybe use it to your benefit. As always I provide General practical legal information but the law varies from one jurisdiction to another. Therefore what I tell you here may or may not apply to your particular situation. If you have a legal problem make sure you reach out to an attorney in your area to advise you about the facts and circumstances that are particular to your case.

What is the Law of Parties?

What is the law of parties? You can kind of think of it as a form of aiding and abetting or helping someone commit a crime. You might think you're participating in one type of crime but then it escalates into a more serious crime that you never anticipated and never expected. This means you could be held liable for something that somebody else did that was totally unexpected.

Example of the Law of Parties

Say there's two guys going to a Walmart store they're going to grab a few items and go through the self checkout and they're not going to pay for them. They're just going to kind of slide through there so they neglect to pay for the items and they head on out the front door. In most cases this would just be a misdemeanor shoplifting or theft case. But let's say loss prevention spots them heading out the front door and confronts them and tries to detain them. Now one person says okay we're caught we're going to call it a day you can have the stuff back. I'm done I'm not going to mess with this anymore. But his friend says otherwise his friend takes a swing and punches the Lost prevention guy in the head knocks him to the floor and he falls unconscious the fellow that punch the Lost prevention guy keeps all his stolen stuff and runs out the door. They both leave in a panic. The guy that took the stuff and the guy that didn't take anything. The guy that takes the stuff gets the guy that didn't take anything to drive him away so they could get out of there before they get caught. Unfortunately for them Walmart has cameras everywhere and it was a busy time of day so there's Witnesses too. The vehicle was quickly identified. License plates are tracked down and by the end of the day they're both arrested for robbery. Even though one person didn't actually Rob anybody and didn't hurt anybody and didn't even take anything.  But because he helped the other person get away he assisted in the robbery. He helped him commit the crime of robbery so he's just as liable as if he did the robbery himself. This is true even though he never intended any of this to happen.

This is called the law of parties if you participate in a crime you become liable for whatever crime actually resulted. In this case they participated in what they thought was going to be just shoplifting but then it turned into a robbery case in this example the one guy may have thought it was just going to be shoplifting. But then the venture turned into a full-blown robbery of felony case where somebody might spend a couple years in prison.  That's how the law parties works everyone is responsible for what everyone else does that participates in the crime.

Law of Parties in different Jurisdictions

Now different jurisdictions have different rules regarding the law of parties. in some jurisdictions everybody's liable for what everybody else does. Other jurisdictions they measure it based on how much participation did he do compared to the other person. 

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Author: Andrew Williams

I am a criminal defense lawyer with over 30 years experience defending people accused of wrongdoing. I am board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Only ten percent of attorneys in Texas are board certified in their respective field. I practice criminal law exclusively in both state and federal court including appeals of criminal cases.