Mississippi Code
Miss. Code Ann. § 97-1-5 (2026)
Accessories after the fact; punishment
✓ current as of July 2026
- (1) Every person who shall be convicted of having concealed, received, or relieved any felon, or having aided or assisted any felon, knowing that the person had committed a felony, with intent to enable the felon to escape or to avoid arrest, trial, conviction or punishment after the commission of the felony, on conviction thereof shall be imprisoned in the custody of the Department of Corrections as follows:
- (a) If the felony was a violent crime:
- (i) If the maximum punishment was life, death or twenty (20) years or more, for a period not to exceed twenty (20) years; or
- (ii) If the maximum punishment for the violent felony was less than twenty (20) years, for a period not to exceed the maximum punishment.
- (b) If the felony was a nonviolent crime:
- (i) If the maximum punishment for the nonviolent felony was ten (10) years or more, for a period not to exceed ten (10) years; or
- (ii) If the maximum punishment for the nonviolent felony was less than ten (10) years, for a period not to exceed the maximum punishment.
- (a) If the felony was a violent crime:
- (2) For the purposes of this section, "violent crime" means homicide, robbery, manslaughter, sex crimes, burglary of an occupied dwelling, aggravated assault, kidnapping, drive-by shooting, armed robbery, felonious abuse of a vulnerable person, felonies subject to an enhanced penalty, felony child abuse or exploitation, or any violation of Section 97-5-33 relating to exploitation of children, Section 97-5-39(1)(b), 97-5-39(1)(c) or 97-5-39(2) relating to child neglect or abuse, or Section 63-11-30(5) relating to aggravated DUI.
- (3) In the prosecution of an offense under this section, it shall not be necessary to aver in the indictment or to prove on the trial that the principal has been convicted or tried.
Codes, Hutchinson's 1848, ch. 64, art. 12, Title 8 (7); 1857, ch. 64, art. 3; 1871, § 2485; 1880, § 2699; 1892, § 951; 1906, § 1027; Hemingway's 1917, § 752; 1930, § 770; 1942, § 1996; Laws, 2012, ch. 496, § 1, eff. 4/30/2012.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 61
cases (8 in the last 5 years), 1984–2024 · leading case: Hye v. State, 162 So. 3d 750 (Miss. 2015).
Hye v. State, 162 So. 3d 750 (Miss. 2015). “No evidence was presented to Hye’s jury that would have allowed it to consider whether Hye was guilty as an accessory after the fact, as prescribed by Mississippi Code Section 97-1-5(1) (Rev.2014). 2 ¶ 6. Hye’s requested instruction in this instance is known as a…”
Brazzle v. State, 13 So. 3d 810 (Miss. 2009). “Miss.Code Ann. § 97-1-5 (Rev. 2006); Gangl, 539 So.”
Joseph Ronald Hartfield v. State of Mississippi, 161 So. 3d 125 (Miss. 2015). “Miss. Code Ann. § 97-1-5 (Rev. 2014). Because Graham asserted that she had assisted Dixon with covering up the crime and disposing of the body after he had murdered Tabitha, Graham confessed to some elements of the crime of acting as an accessory after the fact.”
Byrom v. State, 863 So. 2d 836 (Miss. 2003). “Miss. Code Ann. § 97-1-5 (Rev.2000); Buckley v.”
Sherron v. State, 959 So. 2d 30 (Miss. Ct. App. 2006). “Miss.Code Ann. § 97-1-5 (Rev.2006). The manner in which Charlotte Sherron was said to have violated this statute was set out in the indictment: Charlotte Sherron .”
White v. State, 851 So. 2d 400 (Miss. Ct. App. 2003). “Miss.Code Ann. § 97-1-5 (Rev.2000). An effort that results in no assistance or aid to an absconding felon, even if undertaken with the requisite intent, simply does not accomplish the intended crime.”
Dampier v. State, 973 So. 2d 221 (Miss. 2008). “2d at 874 -75 (citing Miss. Code Ann. § 97-1-5 (Rev.2006)). To find Dampier guilty of capital murder, the jury did not need to find he was the shooter.”
Parks v. State, 884 So. 2d 738 (Miss. 2004). “Pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. § 97-1-5 (Rev.2000), Every person who shall be convicted of having concealed, received, or relieved any felon, or having aided or assisted any felon, knowing that such person had committed a felony, with intent to enable such felon to escape or to…”
Buckley v. State, 511 So. 2d 1354 (Miss. 1987). “Miss. Code Ann. §§ 97-1-5 and 97-17-33 (1972).”
Mangum v. State, 762 So. 2d 337 (Miss. 2000). “Miss.Code Ann. § 97-1-5 (1999). "One cannot be both a principal in the crime and an accessory after the fact.”
Dobbs v. State, 726 So. 2d 1267 (Miss. Ct. App. 1998). “" Miss.Code Ann. § 97-1-5 (Rev.1994). Thus, the adjudication of Robinson as a delinquent child who committed a delinquent act is of little consequence to Dobbs's case.”
Young v. State, 797 So. 2d 239 (Miss. Ct. App. 2001). “§ § 97-1-5, 97-1-7 (Rev.2000). The facts that substantiate the crimes of attempted robbery and accessory after the fact to armed robbery are substantially related to those which form the basis for the two counts of armed robbery charged in the indictment.”
— Miss. Code Ann. § 97-1-5(1) — 4 cases
Hye v. State, 162 So. 3d 750 (Miss. 2015). “No evidence was presented to Hye’s jury that would have allowed it to consider whether Hye was guilty as an accessory after the fact, as prescribed by Mississippi Code Section 97-1-5(1) (Rev.2014). 2 ¶ 6. Hye’s requested instruction in this instance is known as a…”
Hye v. State, 162 So. 3d 818 (Miss. Ct. App. 2013).
Leagea v. State, 138 So. 3d 184 (Miss. Ct. App. 2013).
Dwan Diondro Wakefield a/k/a Dwan Diondro Wakefield, Jr. v. State of Mississippi (Miss. Ct. App. 2023).
— Miss. Code Ann. § 97-1-5(2) — 1 case
Taylor v. State, 122 So. 3d 707 (Miss. 2013).
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