Accessory after the Fact: A Recent Decision Creates Confusion

Suppose John Jones shoots Victim. Sam Smith, who had nothing to do with the shooting, witnesses the event. In order to help Jones escape and avoid prosecution, Smith drives Jones from the scene to a hideout. Victim dies the next day. Can Smith be convicted of accessory after the fact to the murder? According to recent decision by the N.C. Court of Appeals, the answer is yes. However, according to an earlier N.C. Supreme Court decision, the answer is no. The N.C. Supreme Court addressed this issue in State v. Williams, 229 N.C. 348 (1948). In that case, the defendants were indicted for being accessories after the fact to the murder of Thompson Hooker by Bud Hicks. After Hicks shot Hooker, the defendants aided Hicks by driving him from the crime scene. Thompson died the next day. Reversing the defendants’ convictions, the court noted that “one cannot be convicted as an accessory after the fact unless the felony be completed, and, until such felony has been consummated, any aid or assistance rendered to a party in order to enable him to escape the consequences of his crime will not make the person affording the assistance an accessory after the fact.” Id. at 349 (quotation omitted). The court went on to conclude: “a person cannot be convicted as an accessory after the fact to a murder because he aided the murderer to escape, when the aid was rendered after the mortal wound was given, but before death ensued, as a murder is [...]