Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Is it attempted murder if nobody got injured and prosecutor saying that the victim recorded a conversation of a threat saying there goin to "pop her" and said i called her and my phone records show there was calls made but there wasn't never a call made to her so if attempted murder is base on a threat and i never communicated with her how does that work?


Asked on 6/15/15, 1:52 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Attempted murder requires more than a mere threat. There would have to be substantial steps toward killing the intended victim. But the crime's definition does not require that anyone actually be injured. Many attempts fail in ways that don't hurt anyone, but that is not reason enough to excuse the conduct.

It's possible to commit a crime by making threats over the phone. But that crime could not be attempted murder unless the threat was designed to actually cause the other person's death -- say, by pushing him to commit suicide or by triggering a heart attack or stroke. Even then, the victim would have to appear susceptible to such problems. This scenario is very rare, but it does happen sometimes.

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Answered on 6/15/15, 3:18 pm


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