The Hand-Drawn Map

A police informant named Thompson set out to buy marijuana and approached the Defendant, a college student, to make a purchase. The Defendant did not have marijuana to sell and did not arrange a sale of his own. Instead, he told Thompson that another man — known as Kent — had some, gave Thompson Kent’s name, told him roughly where Kent lived, and drew a small map showing how to get to Kent’s residence. Thompson drove to Kent’s home on his own, and Kent sold him a quantity of marijuana. There was no evidence that the Defendant had any prior arrangement with Kent, communicated with Kent about the sale, shared in the proceeds, or had any stake whatever in whether the sale happened. On this record the State charged the Defendant with aiding and abetting Kent’s sale of marijuana, and he was convicted. The question was whether merely directing a willing buyer to a seller — without any connection to or interest in the seller’s transaction — is enough to make a person criminally responsible as an accomplice to that sale.