Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Re: Conspiracy

Conspiracy is defined as an agreement (express or implied) between two or more people to do an illegal act, or to commit a legal act in an illegal manner. So, it takes (at least) two people to tango, so to speak.

Conspiracy to commit a crime is a crime in and of itself. For example, a person can be charged with Armed Robbery and also charged with Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery. Sometimes, people are charged with Conspiracy, but not the underlying crime because they did not commit the underlying crime or aid/abet other people in committing the principal crime.

A conspiracy can occur even if the principal crime never happened. For example, if people agreed to commit an armed robbery and began some act toward the commission of the robbery, but the robbery never occurred, the conspiracy charge could still be prosecuted. Why? Because the crime of conspiracy happens when the agreement takes place ... not the later date when the principal crime was supposed to occur.

The penalty for a conspiracy to commit a felony is the same as the underlying felony, plus the court can add an additional fine of up to $10,000. Conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor crime is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 1 year and/or $1,000 fine.

For the statutory language for conspiracy, see http://michiganlegislature.org/law/mileg.asp?page=getObject&objName=mcl-750-157a&userid=