Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 45. CRIMES

CHAPTER 2. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF LIABILITY

Part 3. Liability for Acts Committed by or for Another

When Accountability Exists

45-2-302. When accountability exists. A person is legally accountable for the conduct of another when:

(1) having a mental state described by the statute defining the offense, the person causes another to perform the conduct, regardless of the legal capacity or mental state of the other person;

(2) the statute defining the offense makes the person accountable; or

(3) either before or during the commission of an offense with the purpose to promote or facilitate the commission, the person solicits, aids, abets, agrees, or attempts to aid the other person in the planning or commission of the offense. However, a person is not accountable if:

(a) the person is a victim of the offense committed, unless the statute defining the offense provides otherwise; or

(b) before the commission of the offense, the person terminates the person's effort to promote or facilitate the commission and does one of the following:

(i) wholly deprives the person's prior efforts of effectiveness in the commission;

(ii) gives timely warning to the proper law enforcement authorities; or

(iii) otherwise makes proper effort to prevent the commission of the offense.

History: En. 94-2-107 by Sec. 1, Ch. 513, L. 1973; R.C.M. 1947, 94-2-107; amd. Sec. 1640, Ch. 56, L. 2009.