Is impossibility a legal and factual impossibility defense to patronize a prostitute?

Under the circumstances alleged in the original accusatory instrument, impossibility would have been a complete defense to patronizing a prostitute in the third degree (both legally and factually) completion of this crime being precluded by the undercover officer's actual age. The undercover officer's true age, as stated above, is one of the required elements of the crime. (See People v. Dlugash, 41 N.Y.2d 725, 395 N.Y.S.2d 419, 363 N.E.2d 1155 (1977), for a concise discussion of the history of the defenses of legal and factual impossibility). However, impossibility is not a defense to an attempt to commit a crime. P.L. 110.

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