Error and/or relief:
Mere presence at the scene is not substantial evidence to support conspiracy.
Holding:
Mere presence at the scene of a crime is insufficient to establish participation in a conspiracy to commit that crime or aiding and abetting its commission.
Authority:
People v. Ware (2022) 14 Cal.5th 151, 165 [Because the law will not recognize a rule of guilt by association, we insist on proof of a defendant’s knowledge of, and specific intent to further, [a conspiracy’s] unlawful ends]
People v. Francis (1969) 71 Cal.2d 66, 72
In re Michael T. (1978) 84 Cal.App.3d 907, 911 [Mere presence at the scene of a crime which does not itself assist its commission or mere knowledge that a crime is being committed and the failure to prevent it does not amount to aiding and abetting]