This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Four men entered the office-warehouse of Martin Oil Service, Inc. They pushed a safe belonging to the company out of a second-floor window into the yard of the premises. They couldn't move it so the four men left for help. The police were notified, arrived at the scene, and waited there until about 2:15 A.M. Two automobiles appeared each containing three men. One car backed up to the safe with the trunk open, whereupon the police called to the men. The men fled and the police fired shots killing one and wounding D. After the original four men left to get assistance, they met D and one Mike Rudis, the deceased, in a tavern; and that the six of them thereafter went to the yard of the Martin Oil Service to get the safe. There is no evidence that D participated in the affair prior to being called upon to aid in moving the safe. D was prosecuted for burglary, on a statute that provided that one who aids, abets, assists, advises, or encourages the perpetrator of a crime is a principal in the crime. D was found guilty and appealed.

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