§ 562.041 – When You’re Responsible for Someone Else’s Crime in Missouri

Posted by Christopher Combs on July 18, 2025

562.041. Responsibility for the conduct of another.

If you help, encourage, or plan a crime with someone else, you can be held responsible for their actions—unless you’re a victim or try to stop it.

1. A person is criminally responsible for someone else’s actions if:

A law specifically says they are; or
They help, agree to help, or try to help the other person plan or commit the crime, before or during it, with the goal of making it happen.

2. A person is not responsible for another’s actions if:

They are the victim of the crime;
Their actions were part of the crime by definition (like being involved in a way the law already assumes). But if their actions are a separate crime, they can still be charged for that;
They change their mind before the crime happens and either warn the police in time or make a real effort to stop it.

3. The third point in subsection 2 is a legal defense the accused must raise in court.