What constitutes a substantial step towards an attempted murder?
The following excerpt is from U.S. v. Manley, 632 F.2d 978 (2nd Cir. 1980):
A substantial step must be something more than mere preparation, yet may be less than the last act necessary before the actual commission of the substantive crime, and thus the finder of fact may give weight to that which has already been done as well as that which remains to be accomplished before commission of the substantive crime. United States v. Jackson, supra, 560 F.2d at 118-19. In order for behavior to be punishable as an attempt, it need not be incompatible with innocence, yet it must be necessary to the consummation
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As we noted in United States v. Busic, 549 F.2d 252, 257 n.9 (2d Cir. 1977), "Judicial inquiry into whether a defendant is chargeable with an attempt is necessarily predictive and focuses on the point when the accused's conduct has progressed sufficiently to minimize the risk of an unfair conviction." A second useful formulation may be found in United States v. Monholland, 607 F.2d 1311, 1318 (10th Cir. 1979):
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