Conspiracy

Were you present when your friend broke the law? Were you in the wrong place at the wrong time? Unfortunately, many times Los Angeles and Orange County prosecutors will charge you with conspiracy to commit a crime on the basis of what some might view as very little evidence. I want to outline 3 things that officers and prosecutors look for to prove a case if you are ever being interviewed or investigated.

Conspiracy has 3 parts:

1) Agreement. A prosecutor must prove that there was an agreement. There does not need to be an explicit agreement. There can be an implied agreement. This gets a lot of people in trouble. An implicit agreement could mean acting as a "lookout. If you are innocently looking around when your friend does something wrong, prosecutors might try to argue that you made an agreement or else you would have told your friend to knock it off. There is not a required amount of time that needs to take place before the agreement and the actual crime. For those accused of being in a criminal street gang that are charged with conspiracy, solely being in a gang is not evidence of an agreement.

2) Overt act. A prosecutor must prove that you did an act in furtherance of the conspiracy. Again, simply looking around might cause the prosecutors to file a charge just based on your act of moving your head. If the charge will hold up in Court is another issue all together. The Law Office of Sarah Sager will work to make sure that injustice isn't done to you on the sole basis of your friend's action. Contact me today for a free consultation.

3) Assent of minds. Finally a prosecutor must prove that there was assent of the minds. This means that you must come to a mutual understanding so as to accomplish the act and unlawful design. Many times this is hard to prove in Court. If you have been charged with conspiracy, or were in the wrong place at the wrong time and are worried that you may be charged, contact an attorney immediately.