P.

DISCUSSION

I. General Legal Principles

"[A]ll persons concerned in the commission of a crime . . . whether they directly

commit the act constituting the offense, or aid and abet in its commission . . . are

principals in any crime so committed." (Pen. Code, § 31, undesignated statutory

references are to this code.) Accordingly, an aider and abettor "shares the guilt of the

actual perpetrator." (People v. Prettyman (1996) 14 Cal.4th 248, 259.) The mental state

necessary to support a conviction for aiding and abetting, however, is different from the

mental state necessary to convict the actual perpetrator. (People v. Mendoza (1998)

3 Cal.4th 1114, 1123.) While the perpetrator must have the requisite intent to establish the

crime charged, an aider and abettor need not personally harbor such an intent; rather, he

is liable as an aider and abettor if he acts with knowledge of the criminal purpose of the

perpetrator and with the intent of committing, or of encouraging or facilitating the

commission of the offense. (People v. Beeman (1984) 35 Cal.3d 547, 560.) Neither

presence at the scene of a crime nor knowledge of but failure to prevent it is sufficient to

establish…