Crimes involving many individuals in the planning and execution are more challenging to prosecute than random offenses. Because of this, California PEN 182 makes it illegal to participate in a criminal conspiracy. Many people are unaware that agreeing with one or more persons to commit a crime like murder is a serious offense. Face investigation or charges for conspiracy to commit murder? The information below will help you understand the offense, its elements, penalties, and possible legal defenses.
Meaning of Murder Conspiracy
You commit the offense of conspiring to engage in murder in California when you reach an agreement with at least one individual to purposefully and illegally end someone else’s life. Further, a co-conspirator must engage in overt conduct to advance the conspiracy or agreement, and the act must occur in California.
You are guilty of this offense whether or not the murder you agreed to commit happens. However, when someone is killed, you will be charged with conspiracy to kill regardless of how minor your role was in the murder. Even if your only part was planning for the purported victim to show up in a particular location, you would be guilty. What the prosecutor focuses on is your role in the conspiracy.
Crime Elements
After an arrest for plotting to murder, you will face the justice system. First, you will be held in police custody before bail or cash bond release pending case determination. Sometimes the court can even release you on your recognizance, where you only promise to return for scheduled court dates in exchange for a pretrial release, without posting bail. The next step involves arraignment, where you appear before a judge to hear your charges.
In criminal cases, the prosecutor has the burden of proof. They must demonstrate that you conspired to kill someone, which is not easy to prove. The prosecutor must partner with the investigating agencies, onlookers, and other relevant parties to gather adequate evidence to prosecute the case.
Also, the prosecutor must prove beyond reasonable certainty all the elements of the alleged offense to gain a conviction. You are not guilty of a crime unless the DA proves all the case elements. The features of murder conspiracy the prosecutor must prove are:
- You Entered an Agreement with Another Party to Willfully and Unlawfully Kill
One critical case element the prosecutor must demonstrate is that you agreed with a person or group of people to end someone’s life. They must show that there was a consensus between you and a third party. Nonetheless, the DA does not have to show that the arrangement was formal or present written and signed paperwork in court as proof. Instead, the court can consider even an informal agreement that has been concluded from your behavior. California statutes recognize unclear agreements if the prosecutor can show a consensus.
Proving an agreement that is inferred is not easy. The DA must rely on several sources of proof depending on the circumstances of your case. The evidence the DA can provide in court to show the existence of an agreement includes the following:
- Nodding
- Handshake
- Text message
Sometimes the prosecutor relies on witnesses to show the accused persons agreed to murder someone. The witnesses can testify that they were present when you and other defendants willfully and illegally agreed to kill. Alternatively, the witness can repeat the theme of the agreement before the court, which is to kill someone deliberately.
Again, you must understand that a pact does not always need to be realized at a specific moment. It can occur over an extended duration. Besides, the prosecutor does not need to demonstrate you were aware of all the details of the arrangement or its members. Nevertheless, you must have known the topic of the meeting, which is to intentionally murder or decide to be a conspiracy member.
- One Member of the Pact Made Significant Steps in Furtherance of the Murder
The second crucial aspect of the offense the prosecutor should demonstrate is that one of the parties you agreed with to deliberately commit murder engaged in behavior or conduct to accomplish or progress the arranged crime. California statutes define an overt step as any steps taken to further the conspiracy or arrangement. The broad definition of the steps taken to plan a murder allows the prosecutor to present irresistible evidence to demonstrate the element.
When proving participation in overt action, the DA must show that the alleged behavior happened after you formed the conspiracy before the commission of murder. The conduct that occurred before the formation of the agreement is irrelevant to the case. If actions before the deal were to be considered in the case, it would upset the trial causing, taking the case long to conclude.
The action in furtherance of the murder must also be connected to the arrangement arrived at by the individuals involved in the conspiracy. Therefore, any activity unrelated to the scheme cannot be presented as evidence of an overt action. However, it should not mean that the overt act is killing itself. It can be any other conduct, not necessarily illegal, that occurs to advance the conspiracy, like:
- Purchase of a firearm
- Calling someone to arrange for an escape vehicle
- Instructing a co-conspirator on how to use the firearm
- Arranging a hotel or room for the murder perpetrator
Making a signal to a co-conspirator or entering a premise to look for an exit are other actions that the prosecutor can cite to demonstrate the substantial steps you took in advancing the murder.
- The Alleged Actions in Furtherance of Murder Occurred in California
The last element the DA must demonstrate to gain a conviction for conspiring to kill is proving the overt act took place in California. The prosecutor must work within the jurisdiction where the offense happened. California’s justice system differs from other states, and the punishment for conspiring to kill also varies. Therefore, it will help the case if all matters are handled within the state.
The evidence the prosecutor needs for this element is accurate coordinates or the location pin where you engaged in the action. Also, pictures of you and other conspiracy parties in a particular location within the state can be admitted as proof.
Your attorney should follow the prosecutor’s presentations keenly to find weaknesses in their evidence. For instance, if the prosecutor has presented proof of location coordinates, you can claim you were in a different locality, although you will need an alibi to back up your claims.
Persons Who can be Charged With Conspiring to Kill
Even if the planned murder does not occur, you will face charges if you are a party to the conspiracy. The arrangement or agreement constitutes the offense and not the actual murder. You will face two counts, one for conspiring to kill unlawfully and the other for attempted murder. You will face charges even when you do not know the identities and roles of your co-conspirators.
Also, the law will hold you accountable for the behavior of your co-conspirators if it is aimed at advancing the murder.
Again, you will be liable if the conduct by other parties to the conspiracy is by design or plan a probable effect of the agreement.
You would be guilty of murder conspiracy even if you were never present at the crime scene. The law focuses on your membership in the agreement to kill. Therefore, you can be charged for associating with people who want to kill another party willfully. What is relevant to the case is that you partnered with other individuals to plead with them to participate, plan, or attempt to kill.
Penalties for Murder Conspiracy
California statutes make it a felony to conspire to kill. Per PEN 182, anyone who plots to commit murder will face the same punishment as someone who commits murder. Usually, the penalties for a conviction for murder conspiracy are the same as those for first-degree murder, including prison incarceration for 25 years to life without parole.
Fighting Murder Conspiracy Charges
In accordance with your constitutional right to a fair trial, your attorney will have the opportunity to address the accusations after the prosecutor presents their case. It would help if you utilized this chance to evaluate the prosecutor’s evidence and find weaknesses that you could rely on to make counterarguments.
You are encouraged to have an attorney at this stage to help you prepare for the case and mount effective defenses. The primary defenses against the murder conspiracy are:
- You Withdrew from the Conspiracy or Intention to Kill
You could use your withdrawal from the conspiracy or agreement to commit murder to have the charges dropped. You can use this as a defense because the law considers you innocent if you withdrew from the agreement or had the intention to engage in murder and informed your co-conspirators that you were abandoning the arrangement. The withdrawal demonstrates that you were not committed to criminal activity. Also, letting other conspiracy members know that you are no longer part of their arrangement ensures that they will not involve you in future meetings, meaning you will not be part of the murder if it occurs.
The prosecutor gains a conviction for this offense if they can show you were part of the murder conspiracy until the time the crime or an overt action happened. If they cannot prove this and your defense attorney provides evidence to show that you pulled out of the plans, you will not be guilty of the charges.
However, if your withdrawal from the conspiracy was ineffective, this defense will fail. You cannot pull out of the arrangement mentally but continue to meet with other co-conspirators to discuss the illegal activity. Your attorney must prove the relevant measures you took after withdrawing from the plans to kill. If the steps you took to none-involvement are unclear, this defense strategy will not work.
- You are Falsely Accused
A murder conspiracy must involve two or a group of individuals in the planning and execution. If, after a few meetings to plan the killing, you inform your co-conspirators of your withdrawal from the arrangement, they could falsely accuse you of the crime out of anger, revenge, or fear that you will report them to the police.
A sentence for murder conspiracy occurs when the prosecutor shows you agreed to participate in a murder deliberately. Therefore, when the authorities make a false entry into their records, either maliciously or to vindicate themselves, you can argue that you have been falsely accused. Your attorney will need sufficient evidence to show the police engaged in misconduct. You must investigate the case's facts again and demonstrate to the court the actual events to disapprove the police report.
Similarly, false allegations can stem from a matter of mistaken identity. Police can arrest you for a murder conspiracy because of your resemblance to the perpetrator or because you are in the wrong place when you are not involved in the conspiracy. You will be forced to appear in court and answer charges you know nothing about. Having an attorney by your side in a case of mistaken identity will make a huge difference because they will find evidence to show the court that it was not you but someone else that committed the crime.
Again, when false accusations are made because a witness lied under oath and committed perjury, your lawyer can gather proof and refute the witness's testimony to alter the jury's perception of your participation in the scheme.
Finally, you can refute the accusations leveled against you by arguing that nothing overt was done following the alleged agreement. The defense will work if no co-conspirator made any substantial steps in furtherance of the murder. You are not guilty of the charges if no overt steps were taken after the agreement.
- There Was No Agreement
Only if you and your accomplices came to a formal or implied agreement to kill, are you found guilty of a murder conspiracy. So, you can argue in your defense that you and the other parties to the alleged conspiracy did not reach an agreement.
Even though this defense is applicable in your case, you must prepare an account of all the events leading to the alleged agreement. Your defense attorney can do this by contradicting the prosecutor’s version of events and introducing new claims about the events in your meeting with the alleged co-conspirators.
Prosecutors usually have a hard time proving an inferred agreement occurred. You can use this to your advantage and contradict their claims. For instance, when the prosecutor relies on a statement you made during a meeting to prove that you agreed to kill someone intentionally, you can introduce a detailed evaluation of the language or comment you made in court to show the statement had another meaning other than the one the prosecutor is insinuating. That way, you can show the court there was no agreement to avoid a conviction's penalties.
- You Lacked the Intent to Kill Someone
You are only guilty of murder conspiracy if the prosecutor shows you intentionally agreed with at least one individual to kill someone. The law requires you to deliberate with your co-conspirators and reach an agreement: to participate in a murder illegally. If you were not a part of the murderous plot or had no intention to kill anyone intentionally, you are innocent. You can claim that your statement was hypothetical and arose in a heated discussion.
Also, you can argue that you were not in the right state of mind and could not contemplate the murder. Your attorney must provide evidence that you were under the influence of alcohol or drugs when the said conspiracy happened.
- Mere Association
You cannot be convicted for this offense because of your mere association with the conspiracy members. The prosecutor must demonstrate you had an interest or common unlawful design or plan with the parties to the agreement. A mere association with individuals does not mean you are part of their plan. If it was just an association, even if you said or did something to further the conspiracy, that does not prove you were a co-conspirator.
- Mistake of Fact or Law
The prosecutor must demonstrate that you were aware that the activity you were planning to engage in was unlawful. If they do not support this argument with sufficient evidence, your attorney can argue that you reasonably or in good faith believed that the act you were engaging in was legal. Therefore, you should not be convicted if you did not know you were conspiring to kill someone and only thought you were doing something within your constitutional rights.
Find an Experienced Murder Attorney Near Me
Murder conspiracy cases are highly complex. Handling the case without the help of a legal professional is risky, especially if you are not familiar with California statutes. Therefore, when you face these charges, you want to discuss your case with an attorney to understand the possible penalties and defenses. At the Los Angeles Criminal Attorney, we will gather evidence and analyze the prosecutor’s claims to develop solid defenses to ensure a favorable outcome. Contact us today at 424-333-0943 to arrange a meeting.
