AN ACT TO AMEND 5296 SECTION 1 OF THE REVISED CODE OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE, 1935, RELATING TO ACCOMPLICES BY CONFERRING UPON THE COURT DISCRETION IN THE MATTER OF PUNISHMENT UNDER SAID ACT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. That Chapter 155 of the Revised Code of the State of Delaware, 1935, be and the same hereby is amended by repealing and striking out all of 5296 Section 1 thereof and by inserting in lieu thereof a new section to be known as 5296 Section 1 as follows:
5296. Sec. 1. Accomplices; Degree of Guilt of; How Punished; When to Suffer Highest Degree of Punishment; How Triable; Acquittal of Principal No Bar to Prosecution of:--Whoever shall abet, procure, command or counsel any other person, or persons, to commit any crime or misdemeanor, shall be deemed an accomplice and shall be guilty of the same crime or misdemeanor as the principal offender. Such accomplice may be punished in the same manner and with the same punishment as the principal offender or the Court may in its discretion impose a punishment of lesser degree upon an accomplice than upon the principal offender notwithstanding the accomplice and the principal offender may have been indicted, tried and convicted under the same indictment.
But if the principal offender be under the age of fourteen years, and the crime committed not capital, the accomplice, if of full age, shall suffer the highest degree of punishment prescribed for the offense.
An accomplice may be prosecuted, tried and convicted, without the conviction, trial or indictment, of the principal; and an acquittal of the principal shall not be a bar to the trial and conviction of the accomplice.