North Carolina § 14-5 - 2. Accessory before fact punishable as principal felon.

§ 14-5. 2. Accessory before fact punishable as principal felon.

All distinctions between accessories before the fact and principals to the commission of a felony are abolished. Every person who heretofore would have been guilty as an accessory before the fact to any felony shall be guilty and punishable as a principal to that felony. However, if a person who heretofore would have been guilty and punishable as an accessory before the fact is convicted of a capital felony, and the jury finds that his conviction was based solely on the uncorroborated testimony of one or more principals, coconspirators, or accessories to the crime, he shall be guilty of a Class B2 felony. History (1981, c. 686, s. 1; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 22, s. 6.) Legal Periodicals. - For note on presence as a factor in aiding and abetting, see 35 N.C.L. Rev. 284 (1957). For survey of 1980 criminal law in general, see 59 N.C.L. Rev. 1123 (1981). For comment clarifying the law of parties in North Carolina by punishing accessories before the fact as principals, see 17 Wake Forest L. Rev. 599 (1981). For survey of 1981 criminal law, see 60 N.C.L. Rev. 1289 (1982).