Vicarious liability and such

[jonathan]

This seems relatively straight forward, which is why I was surprised when I read that excerpt I posted from American Brutus. To me, it seems ludicrous to say that the kidnapping and the assassination weren't part of the same plot. I suppose from the point of view of an Arnold or O'Laughlen, they could try and say that the plot changed after they had left it, so there's no way they could have known. But as I understand it, that simply doesn't matter in terms of their guilt or innocence. It just seems like a really desperate attempt at a defense, which I guess it was.

I'm with Betty though, I'm basically a legal idiot. Something like this seems to be clear cut, but I suppose there's no such thing in legal matters.