Court Opinion

ID: 9466205
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:07:59.064794+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:35.798696
License: Public Domain

ON REHEARING
In their motion for rehearing the government contends that even if one concedes that the vehicle was the principal object of the alleged conspiracy, and assuming that, as a result, there is a lack of showing that it traveled in interstate commerce, that this applies to Counts I and II only; that Counts III and IV are based upon an attempt, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 844(d), to receive in interstate commerce an explosive, that is, some type of high explosive or blasting *1317materials, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 844(j), with the knowledge and intent that said explosives would be used to kill an Oklahoma State Associate District Judge.
We note that Counts III and IV of the indictment specify the willful and knowing attempt to receive in interstate commerce an explosive, that is, some type of high explosive or blasting materials, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 844(j). The evidence relied on to establish this was a conversation which Cobb said that he had first with Monholland in which he was asked by the district attorney whether or not an offer was made to him to purchase explosives by either or both of the defendants. Cobb said “Yes.” He then described the offer of Monholland asking a question of Cobb, “What would a box — words to the effect what would a box of that stuff, caps, and dynamiting cord cost, or what would I sell it to him for.” Cobb was further asked whether Monholland was viewing the stick of simulated dynamite at the time, and he said “Yes.”
The testimony as to Russell was similar but distinct. Cobb was asked whether Russell made such an offer, and he replied “At his residence that night when Mr. Monholland and I went to Mr. Russell’s residence, Mr. Russell asked what would I take for it.” The reference here was to the stick of simulated dynamite. Cobb answered that he didn’t sell it; that he did all of the work himself. He said also that he had made this response to Monholland. This is the extent of the available testimony to prove that an attempt was made to receive in interstate commerce explosives, that is, high explosives or blasting materials looking to blowing up the truck and killing the judge.
The statute now being considered looks to the receiving in commerce of genuine high explosives or blasting materials to be used for killing or injuring a person or damaging or destroying a vehicle or building. One problem is that the evidence does not disclose anything approximating actual explosives or blasting materials. True, there is some talk between Agent Cobb, who conducted all of the dealings with the defendants, and on one occasion one of the defendants held a piece of simulated dynamite which Cobb provided. Both of the defendants asked questions about the purchase of it.
Our reaction is that this was nothing more than preliminary discussion which falls short of the requisite attempt to transport or receive in commerce an explosive. If the activity had proceeded to a further length, that is, if a tangible act which constituted proximate and tangible evidence of a real effort had emerged, the government’s position would be more tenable. Complete absence of any such evidence supporting Counts III and IV renders it as weak as that which was relied on to support Counts I and II.
When the text of the statutes is carefully scrutinized the deficiency in the evidence becomes clear.
Subsection (d) of § 844, supra, provides in part:
Whoever transports or receives, or attempts to transport or receive, in interstate or foreign commerce any explosive with the knowledge or intent that it will be used to kill, injure, or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property, * * *
Subsection (d) thus calls for transporting or receiving or attempting to transport or receive in commerce any explosive with knowledge that it will be used to kill, injure, or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property. The gist of the offense is therefore to receive or to attempt to transport or receive in commerce. The inapplicability of the statute to the facts of this case is shown, first, by the remoteness from the ultimate crime of the alleged attempt. All that you have here is the evidence quoted above that the stick of simulated dynamite was held by one of the defendants and seen by the other and an inquiry about whether or not it could be sold. This is a far cry from transporting or receiving or attempting to trans*1318port or receive in commerce any explosive with knowledge that it will be used to kill or destroy. How can this showing, consisting as it does of mere abstract talk, serve to evidence the crime of attempt to transport or receive in interstate commerce an explosive with knowledge or intent that it will be used to kill, injure or intimidate an individual.
Subsection (j) defines the term “explosive” in relationship to subsection (d) above. It declares that
the term “explosive” means gunpowders, powders used for blasting, all forms of high explosives, blasting materials, fuzes (other than electric circuit breakers), detonators, and other detonating agents, smokeless powders, other explosive or incendiary devices within the meaning of paragraph (5) of section 232 of this title, and any chemical compounds, mechanical mixture, or device that contains any oxidizing and combustible units, or other ingredients, in such proportions, quantities, or packing that ignition by fire, by friction, by concussion, by percussion, or by detonation of the compound, mixture, or device or any part thereof may cause an explosion.
The argument is that the simulated dynamite was brought along as a symbol or sample and that the object does not make a case of attempt because it underlines the preliminary character of these discussions; they show nothing more than preparatory discussion.
The element which is lacking is some overt act which points directly to the object offense.
The cases universally hold that mere intention to commit a specified crime does not amount to an attempt. It is essential that the defendant, with the intent of committing the particular crime, do some overt act adapted to, approximating, and which in the ordinary and likely course of things will result in, the commission of the particular crime. See 21 Am.Jur.2d § 111. The author, after stating the above rule, adds “However, not every act that may be done with intent to produce an unlawful result is unlawful or constitutes an attempt; it is a question of proximity and degree.” Thus, the courts examine the overt act to determine whether it is closely connected with the crime which is the object of the attempt. The author continues:
According to many authorities, mere acts of preparation, not proximately leading to the consummation of the intended crime, will not suffice to establish an attempt to commit it, especially when made at a distance from the place where the substantive offense is to be committed, for there must be some act moving directly toward the commission of the offense after the preparations are made.
21 Am.Jr.2d § 111.
A commentary in Annot., 98 A.L.R. 913, 918 (1935), entitled What conduct amounts to an overt act or act done toward commission of murder so as to sustain charge of attempt to murder, is a note following the decision of the Supreme Court in People v. Miller, 2 Cal.2d 527, 42 P.2d 308 (1935), in which attempted murder was charged. The accused in Miller was convicted of an attempt to commit murder based on evidence that while somewhat under the influence of liquor, he threatened to kill another. He entered a field where such other was at work with a third person, carrying a .22-cal-iber rifle, walked toward both, and when some distance from them stopped and appeared to be loading the rifle, and, without raising it to take aim or pursuing the threatened person who fled, continued towards the third person to whom he surrendered the rifle without resistance.
The Supreme Court of California ruled that the acts of the defendant did not constitute attempt to commit murder. Although conceding that it was a close case, it was emphasized that there must be a specific intent to commit the crime and, secondly, a direct ineffectual act done toward its commission. Mere intention to commit a specified crime, the court said, did not amount to an attempt; preparation alone was not sufficient. “Something more is required than mere menaces, preparation, or planning.” 30 Cor.Jur. 13. The California court added that preparation involved devising or arranging the means or meas*1319ures necessary for the commission of the offense. In contrast, the attempt, it was said, is the direct movement towards the commission after the preparations are made. The court further said that the act must reach far enough towards the accomplishment of the desired result to amount to the commencement of the consummation. It said that some appreciable fragment of the crime must have been committed. It must have progressed to a point where it will be consummated unless interrupted. In effect, the court was saying that the act must have passed the preparation stage so that if it is not interrupted extraneously, it will result in a crime. Unless it satisfies these elements, it is not per se indictable as an attempt.
Numerous cases showing the difference between preparation and an unequivocal act directed to the commission itself which would constitute an attempt are contained in the cited Annotation. Many cases are cited showing acts which sufficiently constitute an overt act. Others cited and discussed illustrate when an act or conduct is insufficient to establish an overt act directly connected with the commission of the crime.
An early English case which appears in the Annotation carries the doctrine just mentioned to its outer limits. This was Reg. v. Williams (1844) 1 Car. & K. 589, 174 Eng.Reprint, 950, 1 Den.C.C. 39, 169 Eng. Reprint, 141. It was there held that the delivery of poison to an agent, with direction to him to cause it to be administered to another, under such circumstances that, if administered, the agent would be the sole principal felon, did not constitute an attempt to administer within the meaning of the statute, for if the agent had administered the poison, he would have been the sole principal felon, and the accused would have been an accessory before the fact. Under our law, of course, a different result would likely be reached under the facts in this case because an accessory before the fact is a principal. Nonetheless, this English case dramatizes the need for an overt act and attests to its considerable history.
Many of the cases considered in the note are early ones, but there is no indication that the rule requiring a proximate overt act has been relaxed in the recent decisions.
The kind of overt act which is sufficient in this kind of case is illustrated in the often-cited decision in United States v. Bowen (1835; D.C.) 4 Cranch, C.C. 604, 24 Fed.Cas.No. 14,629. The defendant, a slave, was guilty of an attempt to murder where he entered the room of his mistress with an ax and was prevented from carrying out his object by the awakening of the mistress and her servant, whereupon he was seized and forced out of the room.
In State v. Mitchell (1902) 170 Mo. 633, 71 S.W. 175, 94 Am.St.Rep. 763, the defendant went to the window of a room with a loaded revolver believing that the person he wished to kill was in that room. He fired at the place where he thought the person was. He was held to be guilty of an attempt.
State v. Frey (1922) 92 W.Va. 323, 114 S.E. 681, held that where the defendant fired a shot from a pistol in the general direction of persons who were approaching, evidence was insufficient to sustain a guilty verdict of an attempted murder of one of the group.
More recent federal cases apply virtually the same standards to attempt cases. One of the best of these opinions is that which was written by Judge Rives in United States v. Mandujano, 499 F.2d 370 (5th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1114, 95 S.Ct. 792, 42 L.Ed.2d 812 (1975). Defendant there was convicted of attempted distribution of heroin. In that case a policeman, after extensive preliminary negotiations and efforts, contacted the defendant and paid him $650.00, which money was to have been used by Mandujano, the defendant, to go out and purchase heroin. The agent waited while the defendant made the effort. Later he returned and said that he was unable to locate his contact. He returned the money to the officer.
The Fifth Circuit held that the evidence was sufficient. In discussing the overt act element the court said:
* * * the defendant must have engaged in conduct which constitutes a substantial step toward commission of the *1320crime. A substantial step must be conduct strongly corroborative of the firmness of the defendant’s criminal intent.
499 F.2d at 376.
The court went on to summarize virtually all of the federal cases on the subject, and although some of them stated the requirement of overt act in somewhat different terms, the standard in most instances was virtually the same as that expressed and applied by the court in this case. See 499 F.2d at 376-77.
It is to be concluded, then, that while intent is an essential element, it is not sufficient to constitute the offense. There must be an overt act pointed directly to the commission of the crime charged. At bar, the evidence is plainly insufficient to satisfy this requirement. All that we find here is general conversation. There is no act on the part of the defendants that can be regarded as directly aimed toward the commission of the offense and which is proximate and germane thereto.
Accordingly, we must hold that, in view of the deficiencies which are mentioned, the court’s action in submitting the case to the jury constituted error and requires reversal. It is therefore ordered that the case be reversed and remanded with directions to dismiss the charges.