Morante

In this case we decide whether California courts have jurisdiction over the criminal prosecution of a defendant for conspiracy to commit an offense where the defendant, within the State of California, both entered into an agreement to commit the offense and committed acts in furtherance of the conspiracy, but the offense that is the object of the conspiracy was committed in another jurisdiction. We also decide whether California courts have jurisdiction over the criminal prosecution of a defendant for committing an offense based upon a theory of aiding and abetting the commission of that offense, where the defendant has committed acts in California that aided and abetted the commission of the offense, but the offense was committed in another jurisdiction. We conclude that our courts do have jurisdiction to criminally prosecute a defendant both for in-state conspiracies to commit offenses out of state, and for in-state aiding and abetting of the commission of offenses out of state.

I

The prosecution’s case was presented primarily through the testimony of an investigating officer as well as through the testimony of a participant in the commission of the offenses. In 1990,…