California Landmark Cases on Aiding and Abetting Assault

"It is a defendant's action enabling him to inflict a present injury that constitutes the actus reus of assault." (People v. Chance (2008) 44 Cal.4th 1164, 1172.) "To ensure that an assault conviction cannot be based on facts unknown to a defendant, . . . a defendant must 'actually know those facts sufficient to establish that his act by its nature will probably and directly result in physical force being applied to another.' " (Id. at p. 1169.) An aider and abettor is liable as a principal ( 31) if he or she "acts with both knowledge of the perpetrator's criminal purpose and the intent of encouraging or facilitating commission of the offense. Like a conspirator, an aider and abettor is guilty not only of the offense he intended to encourage or facilitate, but also of any reasonably foreseeable offense committed by the perpetrator he aids and abets." (People v. Richardson (2008) 43 Cal.4th 959, 1023.)