California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. C.G. (In re C.G.), A140135, A141593 (Cal. App. 2014):
It is established law that the crime of conspiracy does not lie for the commission of attempted crimes. "[A] conspiracy consists of two or more persons conspiring to commit any crime. A conviction of conspiracy requires proof that the defendant and another person had the specific intent to agree or conspire to commit an offense, as well as the specific intent to commit the elements of that offense, together with proof of the commission of an overt act 'by one or more of the parties to such an agreement' in furtherance of the conspiracy." (People v. Morante (1999) 20 Cal.4th 403, 416 [fn. omitted].) And, as explained in People v. Iniguez (2002) 96 Cal.App.4th 75, a case involving the crimes of conspiracy and attempted murder: "[T]he targeted crime of the conspiracy, attempted murder, requires a specific intent to actually commit the murder, while the agreement underlying the conspiracy pleaded to contemplated no more than an ineffectual act. No one can simultaneously intend to do and not do the same act, here the actual commission of a murder. This inconsistency in required mental states makes the purported conspiracy to commit attempted murder a legal falsehood." (Id. at p. 77.)
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