accessory before the fact

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Law An accessory who assists a lawbreaker prior to the commission of that crime.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun law one who commands or counsels an offense, not being present at its commission.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a person who procures or advises or commands the commission of a felony but who is not present at its perpetration