# credit **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2000, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit/25705 "2000-07-15T23:41:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![siva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7c8e57/32.png) [@siva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/siva)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit/25705/1 "2000-07-15T23:41:10Z")
can two people be credited for a murder, and im not talking about bystanders, or is it like the sperm and the egg ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit/25705/2 "2000-07-15T23:45:22Z")
Huh? Murder? What does the sperm and egg have to do with anything? ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit/25705/3 "2000-07-15T23:53:41Z")
If I understand your question, in most places two (or however many circumstances warrant) can be _charged_ with a murder (credit is an unusual choice of words). ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit/25705/4 "2000-07-16T01:43:24Z")
YES. As a matter of fact, you could be charged with murder even if you did not kill anyone and you never intended to. Here is a scenario: You and your thug friend decide to go rob a store. Your job is to wait in the get away car while he goes in to hold-up the cashier. You do not want anyone harmed, you just want some quick cash. While your friend is inside, something goes wrong and he shoots the cashier. The cashier dies on the spot. Now you and your friend are both charged with Murder. You are not an “accomplice” and you did not “aid and abed” you MURDERED under the law. It would have been the same as if you actually went in there yourself to kill the man. I believe it is pretty much like this everywhere. I can really only speak for Florida. ---
**Author:** ![jayron\_32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@jayron\_32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayron_32)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit/25705/5 "2000-07-16T02:18:57Z")
Let’s say I get a long rope. And I hand half of it to a friend of mine, and we loop the rope around your neck, and each pull our own end REALLY hard until you choke and die. We both were equally involved in killing you, and thus both murdered you. And **Bear\_Nenno** ’s scenario works too. Murder is a purely legally defined word. All murders are killings, but not all killing is murder. Which killings ARE murder is defined by local laws. I have no idea what this has to do with a sperm and egg… ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit/25705/6 "2000-07-16T04:24:45Z")
I don’t know how many people can be credited with a murder. I always leave before the credits roll. ---
**Author:** ![dragonlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@dragonlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragonlady)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit/25705/7 "2000-07-16T04:35:27Z")
Think Manson. Convicted of murder, but not even present. Convicted because he was responsible for convincing the others to do his dirty work. ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit/25705/8 "2000-07-17T02:36:04Z")
I think I get the sperm/egg thing: Only one sperm can fertilize an egg (under normal circumstances, anyway); even if two get ther at “the same time”, only one gets the credit, as it were. So the question in the OP was “if we’re both shooting a guy, and your bullet hits first and kills him seconds before mine does, did I murder or just desecrate a body?”. Of course, that’s already been answered… ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit/25705/9 "2000-07-17T02:52:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bear\_Nenno \* > \*\*You are not an “accomplice” and you did not “aid and abed” \*\* It’s ‘aid and abet’ and it’s the same in every state as far as I know. Aid and abed are things I need. “Help! I fell on my girlfriend and I can’t get off.”