In People v. Partee, the Supreme Court today holds that a person who, despite being subpoenaed and given immunity, refuses to testify against murder defendants is not an accessory after the fact to murder. The court’s unanimous opinion by Justice Goodwin Liu overturns the defendant’s accessory convictions, but leaves in place a misdemeanor contempt of court conviction.
The court concludes that the accessory statute under which the defendant was tried requires “overt or affirmative forms of assistance” to a perpetrator and that a refusal to testify is not such assistance. A contrary interpretation, the court says, “would even mean that crime victims can be convicted as accessories to the very crimes perpetrated against them if they decide not to testify after being subpoenaed and offered immunity.”
The court reverses a divided decision by the Second District, Division Five.