no they are witnesses.alexrex20 wrote:so that means the innocent patrons in a store being held up by armed robbers are accessory to the crime because they did nothing to stop it?Teamless wrote:in the mind of a judge or jury, I would think Yes. As you were privy BEFORE the event happened and did not to escape the situation, or notify the police of the situation either.
IANAL, and this is only my opinion
I think the OP is implying that he had inside knowledge, maybe knew the perps or overheard their plans or heard from a third party etc.
In which case (from an earlier post) it would at most seem to be a misdemeanor not to report (and likely not even that if his knowledge was mere here-say). Regardless a good citizen should report to the proper authorities if he has info on a serious crime (felony level offense like burglary). If you were the proposed target of a felony (robbery, assault etc) would you not want someone to act to prevent it from occurring?
Most the time all these posts inviting us to play lawyer (disclaimed by IANAL
) really boil down to what's the right thing to do. A legal scholarly review is not needed so much as a good moral compass. But what do I know; IANAL.