Conspiracy Flashcards
3 Key points for conspiracy
- Was there two or more people involved (cannot punish thought crimes)
- Is there agreement to carry out offence (AR) and agreement (MR)
- Timeframe considerations
- Was there two or more people involved (cannot punish thought crimes)
Fairly uncontentious usually but have to cross it off
- Is there agreement to carry out offence (AR) and agreement (MR)
explain the MR
MR - Intention happens in the mind of an individual and that intention must be shared with all the other involved individuals
- Is there agreement to carry out offence (AR) and agreement (MR)
explain the AR
AR - Needs to be an agreement to carry out that intention - plan to put the common intention into action
AR must be something observable by someone else (words, drawing, writing etc.)
Case on AR and MR
Gemmel (conspired to rob a post office with a weapon, G did not like the involvement of the gun so pulled out, but hesitantly dropped them to their second car which the others got caught on the way to the robbery in)
Two quotes from Gemmel
“their agreement is an act in advancement of the intention which each one of them has conceived in his mind.”
“There must be an intention to be a party to an agreement to commit the specific offence to which the conspiracy is directed”
what is the proof required (with reference to gemmel)
will depend upon evidence of acts or declarations by persons alleged to be parties to the conspiracy or inferences drawn from them (in this case the driving by G), but that act is only evidence of AR not the AR itself. It is up to the jury to decide on the inferences from that act
R supplied drugs to T regularly. M asks T for drugs, which T gets from R
Test for conspiracy
Richards
1. 2+ people form a common intention to carry out a course of conduct
- the intention is outwardly expressed in the form of an agreement
- the course of conduct, if carried out, would be a crime
- the assent of the parties was and was intended to be of real consequence in the sense that it made the ultimate commission of the offence more likely (cannot be an accident)
two parties agree to drug deal over phone - is there a conspiracy
Lang
You cannot be in a conspiracy to supply yourself with drugs as every person in possession of a drug supplied by another would also be guilty of conspiring to supply the drug – this would appear to be an overreach of the law
J, in UK, arranges to have weed sent to himself in NZ but is ceased at boarder
Johnston
A person can be charged with conspiracy any time after the crime is “complete” in the first sense, including the period of time prior to the completion of the crime in the second sense
Declared shipment of woman’s clothing as mens clothing when it was woman’s as less duties on men’s clothing
Sew Hoy
The accused may be charged with conspiring to commit the crime even though factually the object crime never would have been successfully pulled off
Case on timeframe - joined half-way through a pre-existing plan to commit mortgage fraud
Harris
People can join or leave a conspiracy at various stages of its overall existence as long as he or she cooperates knowingly to further its objective. Someone naïve at the onset can become involved by becoming aware of the situation, join the situation and stay involved
