Parties to a crime

Question 1

Principal in the first degree

Answer 1

In Florida, a person who commits a criminal offense or who aids, abets, hires, counsels, or otherwise procures a criminal offense to be committed, is referred to as a “principal in the first degree.” A principal in the first degree need not be actually or constructively present at the commission of the offense.

Question 2

Accessory before the fact

Answer 2

Florida law does not distinguish between a principal and an accessory before the fact. Donaldson v. State, 722 So. 2d 177, 184 (Fla. 1998). Both are treated as principals in the first degree, since a constructive or physical presence is immaterial.

Question 3

Accessory after the fact

Answer 3

A person, who is not a spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling, child, grandchild, or close relative, who assists the principal knowing that the principal committed a third-degree felony or had been an accessory before the fact to a third-degree felony, with the intent that the offender avoid or escape detection, arrest, trial, or punishment, is an accessory after the fact.