Argued March 6 2007 Citation(s) 41 Cal. 4th 1 | Decided May 21 2007 | |
Full case name The People of the State of California, Petitioner v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Respondent (Ronald Decker, Real Party in Interest) Associate Judges Joyce L. Kennard, Marvin R. Baxter, Kathryn M. Werdegar, Ming W. Chin, Carlos R. Moreno, Carol A. Corrigan | ||
The People of the State of California v. Superior Court (Decker), 41 Cal. 4th 1 (2007), is a criminal case decided by the Supreme Court of California that distinguished between solicitation and attempt.
Contents
Background
Decker searched out, asked, and later met with and paid an assassin to murder Decker's sister. After Decker made elaborate preparations, Decker had his final meeting with the assassin. "The assassin said, 'I want you to know, once I leave, its done. So you sure you want to go through with it?' Decker replied, 'I am absolutely, positively, 100 percent sure,'" then Decker handed over the money." The assassin was an undercover detective wearing a recording device.
Decker admitted he solicited murder, but denied he attempted murder, arguing that solicitation and attempt are not identical, with attempt having a standard of being much closer to the act intended to cause the consummation of the crime. The trial court agreed, and the attempt charge was dismissed for lack of evidence per its understanding of the law on elements of an attempt charge.
The prosecution appealed and the California Supreme Court reinstated the attempt charge. The court reasoned agreed that solicitation and attempt are different, and that solicitation does not imply attempt, the latter requiring a finding of greater proximity to fruition of the crime. But the court found that a jury might find the solicitation to have occurred at an earlier request to do the murder, and additionally find attempt at the time of the passing of the money.
Opinion of the Court
The Supreme Court wrote: