Every crime in California is defined by a specific code section. Our attorneys explain the law, penalties and best defense strategies for every major crime in California.
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Every crime in California is defined by a specific code section. Our attorneys explain the law, penalties and best defense strategies for every major crime in California.
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The elements of a conspiracy under California criminal law are:
The “elements of a crime” refer to the set of facts that a prosecutor must prove to convict a defendant of a crime charged.
Penal Code 182 PC is the California statute that sets forth the State’s conspiracy laws.
Examples of criminal conspiracies are:
The elements of a crime refer to the set of facts that must be proven in order to successfully convict a defendant of a crime.
The prosecutor is the party that must prove these elements by presenting evidence to the judge or jury. In addition, the prosecutor must prove these elements beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed them. If the elements are not proven, the defendant is found not guilty, or is acquitted, of the crime charged.
All California crimes have corresponding elements associated with that offense. Examples of elements include:
The Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions CALCRIM No. 415 sets forth the elements of conspiracy under California Law.
According to these instructions, a prosecutor must prove three elements in order to successfully convict a defendant of a criminal conspiracy charge. These are:
Note that there does not need to be an explicit or formal agreement between the conspirators (also referred to as co-conspirators). The fact that there was an agreement can be established by circumstantial evidence (that is, the circumstances surrounding the parties’ actions). This evidence, though, must show that the conspirators acted with a common purpose to commit a crime.
Also note that a member of a conspiracy does not have to personally know the identity or roles of all the other members in the agreement. The focus is on whether the defendant did in fact agree to commit a crime.
A defendant may be guilty of conspiracy even if he doesn’t commit the agreed-upon crime. The conspiracy and the underlying offense are two separate charges. Commission or completion of the latter isn’t necessary to a charge for the former.
An “overt act,” according to California criminal law, is an act that is done in order to help accomplish or advance the agreed-upon crime. This act must be performed:
The overt act must be more than the act of agreeing or planning to commit the crime, but it does not have to be a criminal act itself. The act can be as simple as:
If more than one overt act took place in a case, one of them must have occurred in California for there to be a crime under Penal Code 182.
A former Los Angeles prosecutor, attorney Neil Shouse graduated with honors from UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School (and completed additional graduate studies at MIT). He has been featured on CNN, Good Morning America, Dr Phil, The Today Show and Court TV. Mr Shouse has been recognized by the National Trial Lawyers as one of the Top 100 Criminal and Top 100 Civil Attorneys.