State v. Marr

WEBB, Justice.

The defendant was convicted as an accessory before the fact of the crimes charged. An accessory before the fact is guilty and punishable as a principal to the felony. N.C.G.S. § 14-5.2 (1993). An- accessory before the fact is one who is absent from the scene when the crime is committed but who procures, counsels, commands, or encourages the principal to commit it. State v. Benton, 276 N.C. 641, 174 S.E.2d 793 (1970). The action of a person accused of being an accessory before the fact must have caused the principal to commit the crime before the alleged accessory may be found…