In Re Eduardo M.

In the published portion of this opinion, we hold that when a criminal defendant or delinquent ward is convicted of aiding and abetting two felony firearm assaults, he cannot also be convicted of being an accessory to those felonies solely on the basis of his immediate flight from the scene and later denials of his own involvement, even if that conduct incidentally helped the shooter escape.

The juvenile court declared Eduardo M. a delinquent ward after the court found that he committed two assaults with a semiautomatic firearm by aiding and abetting the actual perpetrator, in both of which a principal was armed with a firearm (counts 1 and 2), and that he was also an accessory to the assaults (count 4). (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 602, subd. (a); Pen. Code, §§ 245, subd. (b), 12022, subd. (a)(1), 32; all further undesignated section references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code.) Based on this case and an earlier sustained delinquency petition in which the court found that Eduardo had violated the terms of his probation, the court committed Eduardo to the Youth Authority for a maximum period of 13 years 8 months.

Eduardo appeals, contending that (I) the finding that…