Criminal Liability for Acts of Another: Non-Availability of

Certain Defenses. In any prosecution in which the criminal liability of the defendant is based upon the conduct of another person, it is no defense that: (a) the offense can be committed only by a particular class of persons to which the defendant does not belong; or (b) the other person has legal immunity from prosecution, or has not been prosecuted for or convicted of an offense based upon the conduct in question, or has previously been acquitted. SOURCE: M.P.C. § 2.06(6); *Cal. § 454 (T.D.1, 1967); Mass. ch. 263, § 21(b); N.J. § 2C:2-6(e). CROSS-REFERENCES: § 4.70 this Code. COMMENT: This Section makes clear that one can be an accomplice even though he cannot be a principal. For instance, one who assists a public officer to embezzle public funds would be an accomplice even though the requirement of the crime in chief is that the actor be a public officer. Subsection (b) retains former Guam Penal Code § 972 and makes clear that the status of the principal is immaterial to the conviction of the accomplice. This Section is framed in the negative, i.e., it states that these situations are not defenses to a charge of being an accomplice.