People v. Dlugash case brief

 

• People v. Dlugash- D claimed that the decedent was already dead when he shot him.
  • While a defendant may not be convicted of murdering someone already dead, he can be convicted of attempted murder if he believed the person to be alive at the time.
  • NYC Penal Code follows the Model Penal Code in dispensing with traditional rule that legal impossibility is a good defense to crimes of attempt, but factual impossibility is not.
    • Example: If the act is wrong on its face, there is no defense of attempted murder. It is always wrong to pick pockets, even if you pick an empty one. Shooting a stuffed deer is not a crime, because it’s not a crime to shoot a deer, even if you think it’s real.
  • The focus is on the actor’s mind, which is the best standard for determining his dangerousness to society so he’s liable for attempted criminal conduct.
    • Liability exists “if such crime could have been committed had the attendant circumstances been as such person believed them to be.”
• Legal Impossibility
  • You cannot attempt to do something that is not a crime
• Factual Impossibility
  • Crime can be mitigated through MPC 5.05 if the crime was done in a way that is inherently unlikely to result in the commission of the crime
    • The same person would be guilty of attempted murder under MPC 5.01
    • EXP. Trying to kill someone w/ a voodoo doll
      • Could this be a sign that the attempt was not even there?
      • Did they really mean to do it when they did not succeed in doing it?
    • What actually happens really matters