DEFENDANT’S INSTRUCTING ANOTHER TO KILL HIS WIFE AND HER MOTHER DID NOT COME NEAR ENOUGH TO ACCOMPLISHING MURDER TO SUPPORT THE ATTEMPTED MURDER CONVICTIONS (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing the attempted murder convictions, determined the evidence did not demonstrate that the defendant came near enough to accomplishing murder to support the convictions. The defendant, who was in jail, gave detailed instructions to kill his wife and her mother to another inmate, who immediately informed jail authorities:

“Acts of preparation to commit an offense do not constitute an attempt . . . There must be a step in the direct movement towards the commission of the crime after preparations have been made . . . Likewise, acts of conspiring to commit a crime, or of soliciting another to commit a crime do not per se constitute an attempt to commit the contemplated crime” … . Consequently, the People must establish that defendant “engaged in conduct that came dangerously near commission of the completed crime” … . …

The evidence establishes only that defendant planned the crimes, discussed them with the inmate in the next cell and with that inmate’s girlfriend, and exchanged notes about them. Thus, inasmuch as ” several contingencies stood between the agreement in the [jail] and the contemplated [crimes],’ defendant[] did not come very near’ to accomplishment of the intended crime[s]” … . Where, as here, the evidence fails to establish that defendant took any action that brought the crime close to completion, no matter how slight … , the evidence is not legally sufficient to support a conviction of attempt to commit that crime … . People v Lendof-Gonzalez, 2019 NY Slip Op 01904, Fourth Dept 3-15-19