Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
“That actually begs my next question. Co-defendants are involved in the case. One has a gun. Are they all charged with firearm enhancement?”
Spencer Freeman – Criminal Defense Attorney – Pierce County, WA
“It’s a good question. I think it depends upon the circumstances. I have handled a case where a boyfriend and a girlfriend were living together. One of the two was dealing marijuana. The other one, maybe helped out here and there. A warrant was executed. There was a gun found in the house and they were both charged with the gun enhancement in that situation. I think it would be significantly different if somebody, let’s say, had it in their pocket or stuck in the waistband of their pants. A co-conspirator or a co-defendant probably wouldn’t, at that point, be charged with a firearm enhancement.”
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
“All right, so let’s say, in the case of a robbery, or a car-jacking, and one of them has a weapon, that’s where one of them may not…”
Spencer Freeman – Criminal Defense Attorney – Pierce County, WA
“I think that when you are talking about a robbery, and you’re talking about multiple defendants engaged in the robbery, and only one of the defendants has a firearm, I think in that scenario, all of them may be charged with a firearm enhancement. You would have to litigate whether the other defendants had enough ready access to the firearm to be charged with it. But remember, when you are talking about, essentially a conspiracy like that, you are liable for, as one defendant, for the actions of the other defendants. Let’s say, in that scenario, the gentleman with the gun shot and killed somebody, the others helping out with the robbery can be charged with first-degree felony murder, even though they didn’t pull the trigger.”
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