Most states say that you are guilty of the crime of conspiracy to commit murder if:
- you agree with one or more other people to intentionally and unlawfully kill someone, and
- at least one of the persons involved commits some act to further the agreement.
Depending on your case, you may face the same penalties for conspiracy to commit murder as you would have faced for actual murder charges.
Conspiracy to commit murder is typically indictable as a felony (as opposed to a misdemeanor). Plus a conviction will remain on your criminal record for several years before it can become sealable (if it ever does).
1. How is “conspiracy to commit murder” defined?
The criminal laws of most states say that you commit conspiracy to commit murder if you agree with one or more other people to intentionally and unlawfully kill someone.1
Note that many states say that you are not guilty of conspiracy unless one of the co-conspirators takes some overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy or in furtherance of the agreement.2
2. Is it only if you are found at the murder scene?
No. A conspiracy charge focuses on whether you were a member of an agreement to break the law.
In the case of conspiracy to commit murder, all that matters is that you acted with someone else and there was:
- some solicitation to commit murder,
- a plan or intent to kill someone, or
- an attempted murder.3
The criminal charge of conspiracy to commit murder does not require that you be physically present at the murder scene.
Conspiracies can be inferred.
3. Is an explicit agreement necessary?
In most states, no. For there to be a conspiracy, the agreement to kill a person can be clearly stated or inferred from your conduct.
For example, if you meet with another person in a park and discuss killing someone, you can be guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. This is even true if you did not explicitly agree on every detail of the killing.
Note also that an agreement can take place over time: It does not have to come to fruition at one particular moment. Further, it is not necessary that you know:
- all of the details to the agreement, or
- all of the members to the agreement.4
You just have to know that the specific intent of the agreement is to kill and agree to take part in the agreement.5
4. What is an “overt act”?
For those states that require a showing of an “overt act,” the phrase means that some member of the agreement must take a substantial step to further the object of the conspiracy.6
An overt act has to come after you entered into the agreement to kill, but before the murder is complete. The overt act does not have to be the murder itself, but it must be more than an agreement to kill.
It is not necessary that the overt act be a criminal act. For example, an overt act to further a murder can include any of the following legal acts:
- buying a gun,
- making a phone call to help arrange for a “getaway” car,
- giving a co-conspirator instructions on how to shoot a weapon, and
- renting a hotel room for the person who will commit the crime.
5. Does a murder actually have to take place?
Most often, no. An actual murder usually does not have to occur for you to be guilty of conspiracy to commit murder.
It is the agreement to kill which constitutes the offense, not the actual violent crime itself.
You can be convicted of conspiracy to commit murder even if no one gets killed or harmed.
6. What if you withdraw from the conspiracy?
“Withdrawal” is a popular defense strategy for the crime of conspiracy. This is because you are usually not guilty of a conspiracy charge if you:
- withdraw from the conspiracy and
- tell your co-conspirators that you are abandoning the plan.
7. What is the federal law for conspiracy to commit murder?
Similar to most state laws, federal law defines conspiracy to commit murder charges as when:
“two or more persons conspire [to commit murder] … and one or more of such persons do any overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy[.]”
Conspiracy to commit murder carries up to life in prison in a federal detention center.7
Conspiracy to commit murder is a state and federal criminal offense.
Additional Reading
For more in-depth information, refer to the following scholarly articles:
- Intracorporate Plurality in Criminal Conspiracy Law – Hastings Law Journal.
- The Origin and Development of Conspiracy to Defraud – American Journal of Legal History.
- Criminal conspiracy, injunctions and damage suits in labor law – The Journal of Legal History.
- Conspiracy, Concealment and the Statute of Limitations – The Yale Law Journal.
- Group Think: The Law of Conspiracy and Collective Reason – Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology.
Legal References:
- See, for example, Nev. Rev. Statute 199.480 (criminal conspiracy is the offense where two or more people make an agreement to violate the law). In this case, the violation of the law is the intentional murder of a person.
- See, for example, CALCRIM No. 563 – Conspiracy to Commit Murder, Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions (2025 edition). See also California Penal Code 182 PC. See also In re. JD (Cal.App. 2025) .
- See Model Penal Code Section 5.03 (a criminal code that many states base their laws on).
- See Black’s Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition – “Conspiracy.”
- See same.
- See U.S. Supreme Court case of Yates v. U.S. (1957) 354 U.S. 298.
- 18 U.S.C. 1117. See also United States v. Harrelson (5th Cir., 1985) 766 F.2d 186.
