You undoubtedly know that a conviction for murder in California will result in one of the harshest punishments judges can impose. However, there is much confusion regarding what conspiring to commit a murder offense means, mainly since it is pretty seldom to be prosecuted for a violation by association. The details are intricate since even indirect participation could result in a conspiracy charge. All it takes is for one of the conspirators to be caught, and everybody who participated in or planned to execute the crime might face charges.

Luckily, various legal defense strategies are available if you have been charged with conspiracy to murder. You can best explore these defenses by working with a skilled defense lawyer. This blog explains everything you need to know about conspiring to commit a murder offense.

Elements of Conspiracy to Murder

Conspiracy is the planned execution of an offense involving several people. Conspiring to murder is, therefore, deliberately agreeing with either one or several other parties to unlawfully and intentionally kill someone. However, you cannot be convicted of this crime until the prosecution proves that:

  • You entered an agreement to deliberately and illegally kill someone else.
  • You did an overt act in furtherance of the agreement.
  • You committed at least one of the overt acts in California.

Overt Act in Cases of Conspiracy to Commit Murder

California, like most states, provides that you cannot be sentenced for conspiracy to murder unless you or one of the co-conspirators takes an overt act in furtherance of the agreement or plan.

An overt act means that a member of the agreement must take a significant step in furtherance of the conspiracy to murder. An overt act must occur after you have agreed to murder somebody before the killing is complete.

Additionally, the overt act does not have to be the killing itself, although it has to be something more than planning or agreeing to kill. The overt act also needs not to be illegal. For example, an overt act in furtherance of a murder may include one of these lawful acts:

  • Purchasing a firearm.
  • Instructing co-conspirators on shooting a weapon.
  • Calling someone to assist in arranging an escape vehicle.
  • Renting a room in a hotel for the individual who will execute the killing.

An overt act shows how serious the plan to commit a murder offense is.

Note that you can be guilty of conspiracy even if you were not physically present at the crime scene or even if you did not know about the commission of the murder, either after or before it was completed. Conspiracy charges focus on whether you were part of a pact to violate the law. And in cases of conspiracy to perpetrate a murder offense, it is primarily the association you have with other parties that want to kill a person deliberately that constitutes the violation. What counts is you acted together with another party or other parties, and the following existed:

  • Solicitation to perpetrate a murder
  • An intent or plan to kill somebody, or
  • Attempted murder.

You can also, although not always, be found criminally liable for conspiracy to murder, even if you only knew about a small part of the whole plan. For example, you were a mid-level operator in a big narcotics trafficking cartel. However, various exceptions do apply.

Additionally, even though the prosecution must present evidence of the intent to enter an agreement to commit murder, an explicit agreement is not a requirement for a conviction. An agreement could be explicitly stated, though in conspiracy cases, the agreement could also be presumed from your behavior if the prosecutor proves you had a common goal of killing someone.

But regardless of whether the agreement is inferred or clearly stated, it must be about intentionally killing someone. If you believe the pact is only a joke and your fellows will not murder the victim, you do not possess the intention to commit murder.

For example, imagine you meet someone else at a park to discuss murdering someone. In this case, you are guilty of conspiring to perpetrate a murder offense. This would be the case even if you did not agree on each detail regarding the killing. And even if the killing does not occur, you may be sentenced for conspiring to perpetrate a murder if the prosecutor proves you planned and took an overt act to further your agreement.

Also, an agreement may occur over time. It need not come to fruition at a particular moment. Additionally, you do not need to know all the members involved in the agreement or all the agreement details. All you need to know is that the intention of making the pact is to murder and consent to be part of the agreement.

A Murder Does Not Necessarily Have to Happen

Like attempted murder, actual killing does not need to happen to be guilty of conspiring to perpetrate a murder offense. It is your agreeing to be part of a murder that constitutes the crime and not the real offense itself.

Finally, distinctly planned murders are always prosecuted as distinct conspiracy cases. For example, say you are a gang member and conspired to kill more than one rival gang member to assume control of their business. In this case, the prosecutor would charge you with distinct conspiracies for every murder committed, irrespective of whether the killings/attempted murders served that one goal for your gang.

Criminal Responsibility for Your Supposed Co-Conspirator’s Actions

The prosecutor’s office’s primary purpose in prosecuting persons involved in a conspiracy case is to make every participant criminally liable for all other participants’ actions to further that conspiracy. This is relatively common knowledge and straightforward, although there are critical finer points to note if you are facing conspiracy to commit murder charges.

Co-conspirator Actions You Are Not Liable For

If a party that is not a co-conspirator does something in furtherance of the conspiracy, the actual co-conspirators are not liable for that specific act, irrespective of its criminal nature. Neither would you, as a co-conspirator, be accountable for the actions of other co-conspirators that were done either before you entered an agreement with them or after the conspiratorial killing was committed. Additionally, you cannot be held liable for overt actions that your co-conspirators committed before you became part of the conspiracy.

Co-conspirator Actions You Are Liable For

As a co-conspirator, you are criminally responsible for any action committed by any of your fellow co-conspirators, provided those actions served the grand scheme of conspiracy, and a minimum of one of those actions occurred in California. Additionally, you are criminally liable for any statement they make for conspiracy purposes. For example, your co-conspirator's admission will be admitted as evidence in favor of the prosecution during the trial.

It does not matter which specific member makes the statements or does the act. For example, say the leader of a narcotics-trafficking organization to which you belong commanded that someone be killed, and his trusted hitman carried out the order. In this case, you will be liable for the leader’s order and the hitman’s action of committing murder. This would be the case even if that specific overt act were not part of the original scheme. Provided that action was a natural, probable outcome of that plan, you will be liable for it.

What Happens if Convicted of Conspiracy to Murder

Under California statute, conspiring to murder someone is a felony and carries consequences that mirror the underlying murder charges. According to PC 182, you may be penalized similarly and to the same extent as a person convicted of murder. That is, murder in the first degree under PC 190 and murder in the second degree under 192(a) and (b), except you may not be subject to capital punishment as it is typically reserved for actual murderers under California statute, prosecuted under PC 190.2. 

A conviction of a first-degree murder conspiracy will lead to a sentence ranging from 25 years to life in prison (generally with the possibility of parole). On the other hand, second-degree murder conspiracy is punishable by 15 years to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. You might only be found guilty of a second-degree murder conspiracy if the judge finds you had diminished mental capacity when you made the conspiracy agreement in that you did not deliberately and carefully plan the killing.

A conviction of conspiracy to murder may also have adverse immigration repercussions if you are an immigrant. According to the U.S immigration law, certain crimes can result in immigration consequences, including deportation and being marked inadmissible for immigrants. These crimes include aggravated felonies and crimes involving moral turpitude.

Since conspiracy to murder is punished the same way as the actual murder crime and murder is classified as a crime of moral turpitude, you may be deported or labeled inadmissible if convicted within five years after being admitted to the United States.

A conviction of conspiracy to commit murder can also adversely affect your firearm rights. Under state laws, a convicted felon is prohibited from possessing or acquiring a firearm in California, meaning you will lose your right to possess or own a gun if you are guilty of conspiring to murder, which is a felony offense.

Expunging a conviction record for conspiracy to murder may not be possible. In California, a person convicted of a crime can erase their criminal record after successfully serving their probation or jail sentence, whichever the judge imposed. And seeing that conspiracy to commit murder is a felony that results in a prison sentence and no probation, you may not qualify for a record expungement.

You Can Fight and Win Conspiracy to Murder Charges 

While you could fight against this offense, you want to consult an experienced criminal defense lawyer to know the most solid defense strategy. An attorney can provide legal counsel on the most effective defenses to cast doubt on the prosecution's case. Most law offices and defense attorneys offer free consultations, meaning you can know your legal options at zero cost.

Additionally, all communications you will have with your lawyer are protected by a lawyer-client relationship, meaning your lawyer cannot disclose any of your confidences without first seeking your consent.

Withdrawal is usually a popular defense against conspiracy crimes. Usually, you cannot be convicted of conspiracy charges if you withdraw from the plan and inform your co-conspirators you are pulling out. Evidence that you no longer wish to be part of the supposed plan to kill someone could support the withdrawal defense. Note that withdrawal is only a legal defense if you affirmatively communicated your withdrawal before one of your co-conspirators committed an overt act in furtherance of the offense.

Another defense is false allegations, which you may argue when you have been wrongly charged with being part of a conspiracy to commit murder.

You can also argue insufficient evidence as a defense. If the prosecutor does not prove all the elements of the crime of conspiracy to murder beyond any reasonable doubt, you should not be convicted. For example, if the prosecutor does not have evidence of you or someone completing an overt act in furtherance of the crime, the judge should not convict you. Also, if the prosecutor cannot show you specifically intended to kill someone, for example, if you were intoxicated, the judge could lower your first-degree murder charges to manslaughter.

Note that if you allegedly conspired jointly with someone else and that other person is an informant, police agent, or undercover law enforcement officer, you may not be guilty of conspiracy to murder. This defense was successfully argued in one federal criminal conspiracy case based in Los Angeles since the other alleged co-conspirator was an FBI informant wearing a wire.

The Difference Between Murder and Conspiracy to Commit Murder

Murder is usually considered the most severe offense under criminal law, but conspiring to murder someone is just as severe. You commit murder when you kill someone with malice aforethought.

We have two primary differences between conspiring to commit murder and actual murder:

  1. In conspiracy to murder cases, there need not be a demise. You could be convicted of conspiring to kill someone even if the murder itself was not executed. An instance would be if you hire a hitman to murder your rival, but the police know about the plan and arrest the hitman before they carry out the murder. You could also be implicated in the murder case as a conspirator.
  2. Cases of conspiring to murder are usually more challenging for the prosecutor to prove since they must establish the specific intent to kill the victim. For example, suppose you and another person agree to shoot, though not kill someone else, and the person eventually dies. You would be convicted of murder as you acted with malice aforethought but would not be convicted of conspiracy to murder since you did not intend to kill.

Cases of conspiracy to murder usually raise complicated matters of evidence. To prove more than one person was conspiring to murder someone else, the prosecutor will usually rely on complex digital evidence, for example:

  • Phone evidence— to try and establish a connection between the conspirators and the text message contents. It may also be utilized to prove an intention or motive. Phone evidence can also show the location of a person's phone when an event like a text or call occurs.
  • ALPR (automated license plate readers)— to determine vehicle movements.
  • Forensic evidence, for example, fingerprints or DNA linking suspects to recovered property or a scene.

It is critical for a successful defense to ensure all this evidence is properly scrutinized.

Why You Need to Have a Lawyer By Your Side

As we have seen, conspiring to commit a murder offense is just as severe a crime as actual murder. Based on the case facts, you could face life imprisonment. To increase your chances of avoiding all this, you will require a defense lawyer immediately after you begin the criminal process.

After you have hired a knowledgeable lawyer, they will begin with their independent investigation into the matter with their private investigators. They will attend all pretrial hearings and court appearances associated with your conspiracy case, either for you or with you.

The lawyer will also handle all the paperwork, assisted by administrative staff experienced in legal paperwork processing. And if you are already arrested, they can leverage their relationship with local judges, prosecutors, and other court officials to have you released on bail and appear for the bail proceeding with you.

Find a Competent San Jose Criminal Defense Attorney Near Me.

We at California Criminal Lawyer Group have decades of experience fighting against all kinds of criminal cases, including conspiracy to murder. We boast expert attorneys who will answer all your questions and are available 24/7 to work for you once you hire us. If charged with, arrested, or under investigation for conspiring to commit a murder offense in San Jose, call us today at 408-622-0204 and set up a free consultation and case review. During the consultation, we will review the case facts and let you know what you can expect. We will also tell you how we can help and stand by you throughout the criminal process.