Whether Williams could be convicted as an accessory after the fact to murder when her alleged assistance to the principal was rendered after the victim was mortally wounded but before the victim died.
Holding
No. Because the murder was not complete when Williams allegedly assisted Hicks, the evidence did not establish that she was an accessory after the fact to murder.
Reasoning
To prove accessory after the fact to murder, the State had to establish three elements: that the principal actually committed murder, that the accused knew the murder had been committed, and that the accused then received, relieved, comforted, or otherwise assisted the principal to help him escape or hinder his arrest, trial, or punishment.
An accessory-after-the-fact offense can arise only after the underlying felony has been completed. Assistance given before completion of the felony cannot make the helper an accessory after the fact to that felony, even if the assistance is intended to help the principal avoid the consequences of the crime.
Murder is not complete until the victim dies. Thus, a person who aids an assailant after the assailant inflicts a mortal wound but before death occurs does not thereby become an accessory after the fact to murder.
Here, the State's own evidence placed Williams's alleged assistance in the period after Hooker was mortally wounded but before he died. At that time, no completed murder existed. The trial court therefore should have granted Williams's motion for involuntary nonsuit.