O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 16-4-4 (2019)

Impossibility as a defense

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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It is no defense to a charge of criminal attempt that the crime the accused is charged with attempting was, under the attendant circumstances, factually or legally impossible of commission if such crime

CRIMINAL ATTEMPT, CONSPIRACY, & SOLICITATION

could have been committed had the attendant circumstances been as the accused believed them to be.

History

Code 1933, § 26-1002, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1.

Annotations

Law reviews. - For article, ‘‘A Com-

prehensive Analysis of Georgia RICO,’’ see 9 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 537 (1993).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Predicate act sufficiently set forth in indictment. - Indictment clearly specified the predicate acts alleged against the defendants by count one specifying that the pattern of racketeering activity was unlawfully obtaining oxycodone, and it incorporated as predicate acts the remaining counts of the indictment charging the defendants with unlawfully obtaining oxycodone. Kimbrough v. State, 336 Ga. App. 381, 785 S.E.2d 54 (2016). Trafficking imitation cocaine. - The fact that the defendant attempted to traffic imitation cocaine does not relieve defendant of culpability absent evidence that defendant knew the substance was not cocaine. Durfee v. State, 221 Ga. App. 211, 471 S.E.2d 32 (1996). Aggravated assault with intent to rape. - Defendant’s belief that the victim was a female and defendant’s actions taken towards the victim were sufficient to establish defendant’s intent to rape; fact that the victim turned out to be a male rendering an actual rape impossible did not affect defendant’s culpability. Gordon v. State, 252 Ga. App. 133, 555 S.E.2d 793 (2001). Participation and relationship sufficiently set forth in indictment. - Indictment, when read as a whole, was sufficient to withstand the special demurrer on the grounds that it did not sufficiently allege the manner in which the defendants participated in the enterprise and the enterprise’s relationship to the alleged racketeering activity because it

specified in the counts alleging predicate acts the acts that amounted to the defendants’ participation in the enterprise. Kimbrough v. State, 336 Ga. App. 381, 785 S.E.2d 54 (2016). Evidence sufficient to satisfy defense. - Defendant’s actual inability to complete drug purchase because defendant had no money with the defendant falls within the definition of impossibility set forth in O.C.G.A. § 16-4-4. Guzman v. State, 206 Ga. App. 170, 424 S.E.2d 849 (1992). Defense not supported by the evidence. - Evidence that a defendant gave a detective checks for $7,000 to kill the defendant’s uncle and described the defendant’s uncle’s location was sufficient to support the defendant’s convictions for criminal attempt to commit murder and solicitation of murder. Impossibility was not a defense, although the uncle was through airport security and there were no funds in the defendant’s account, because the defendant believed that the hit could take place and that the checks would persuade the supposed hit man to commit the murder. Rana v. State, 304 Ga. App. 750, 697 S.E.2d 867, cert. denied, No. S10C1764, 2010 Ga. LEXIS 922 (Ga.), cert. denied, U.S. , 131 S. Ct. 156, 178 L. Ed. 2d 93 (2010). Cited in Williams v. State, 123 Ga. App. 9, 179 S.E.2d 351 (1970); Riddle v. State, 145 Ga. App. 328, 243 S.E.2d 607 (1978); Hibbert v. State, 146 Ga. App. 887, 247 S.E.2d 554 (1978); Logan v. State, 309 Ga. App. 95, 709 S.E.2d 302 (2011).

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. - 21 Am. Jur. 2d, Criminal Law, § 151. ALR. - Criminal responsibility of one co-operating in offense which he is incapa-

ble of committing personally, 74 A.L.R. 1110; 131 A.L.R. 1322. Attempts to receive stolen property, 85 A.L.R.2d 259.

What constitutes attempted murder, 54 A.L.R.3d 612. Construction and application of state statute governing impossibility of con-

summation as defense to prosecution for attempt to commit crime, 41 A.L.R.4th 588.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 24 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1990–2026 · leading case: Rayton v. State, 875 S.E.2d 708 (Ga. 2022).
Rayton v. State, 875 S.E.2d 708 (Ga. 2022). · cites it 16× “Rayton argues that “[a]ttempt requires a subjective belief that a crime is factually possible,” citing to OCGA § 16-4-4, which provides that it is no defense to a charge of a criminal attempt that the crime was impossible under the attendant circumstances if the crime would have…”
Smith v. the State, 797 S.E.2d 679 (Ga. Ct. App. 2017). · cites it 4× “In fact, OCGA § 16-4-4 specifically provides: It is no defense to a charge of criminal attempt that the crime the accused is charged with attempting was, under the attendant circumstances, factually or legally impossible of commission if such crime could have been committed had…”
Rosalba Cisneros v. Petland, Inc., 972 F.3d 1204 (11th Cir. 2020). “33 Case: 18-12064 Date Filed: 08/25/2020 Page: 34 of 35 The Georgia provision analogous to § 1962(c), O.C.G.A. § 16-4-4(b), prohibits conducting or participating in an enterprise and does require proof of an enterprise.”
Guzman v. State, 424 S.E.2d 849 (Ga. Ct. App. 1992). · cites it 6× “” OCGA § 16-4-4; see Howell, supra at 456 .”
Spivey v. State, 619 S.E.2d 346 (Ga. Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 2× “5 See OCGA § 16-4-4 (“It is no defense to 'a charge of criminal attempt that the crime the accused is charged with attempting was, under the attendant circumstances, factually or legally impossible of commission if such crime could have been committed had the attendant…”
Logan v. State, 709 S.E.2d 302 (Ga. Ct. App. 2011). · cites it 2× “See also OCGA § 16-4-4 (“It is no defense to a charge of criminal attempt that the crime the accused is charged with attempting was, under the attendant circumstances, factually or legally impossible of commission if such crime could have been committed had the attendant…”
Perkins v. State, 588 S.E.2d 719 (Ga. 2003). · cites it 2× “See OCGA § 16-4-4; Guzman v. State, 206 Ga. App.”
Gordon v. State, 555 S.E.2d 793 (Ga. Ct. App. 2001). · cites it 2× “” OCGA § 16-4-4; Howell v. State 9 (“ ‘[i]t is not necessary that the contemplated murder be factually possible.”
Clark v. Sec. Life Ins. Co. of Am., 509 S.E.2d 602 (Ga. 1998). · cites it 2× “RICO, however, is not such a statute because OCGA § 16-4-4 prohibits only “persons” from engaging in racketeering activity.”
Williams Gen. Corp. v. Stone, 632 S.E.2d 376 (Ga. 2006). · cites it 2× “11 ( 509 SE2d 602 ) (1998) that: A corporation may also face prosecution under OCGA § 16-2-22 (a) (1)____RICO, however, is not such a statute because OCGA § 16-4-4 [sic] prohibits only “persons” from engaging in racketeering activity.”
Sec. Life Ins. v. Clark, 494 S.E.2d 388 (Ga. Ct. App. 1998). · cites it 2× “Clark, 10 the wrongful rescission of his Insight Answer insurance, flows from such a scheme so as to make him an “aggrieved person” or one who is “injured by reason of any violation of Code Section 16-4-4” within Georgia’s civil RICO statute.”
Scroggins v. State, 401 S.E.2d 13 (Ga. Ct. App. 1990). · cites it 2× “) OCGA § 16-4-4. An *34 assertion (which was never conceded by the expert and never in evidence) that it was “impossible” to transmit the HIV virus in this fashion is even less a defense to the charge of assault “with intent to murder” than it would be to an accusation of…”
— 16-4-4(a) — 1 case
— 16-4-4(b) — 1 case
Rosalba Cisneros v. Petland, Inc., 972 F.3d 1204 (11th Cir. 2020). “33 Case: 18-12064 Date Filed: 08/25/2020 Page: 34 of 35 The Georgia provision analogous to § 1962(c), O.C.G.A. § 16-4-4(b), prohibits conducting or participating in an enterprise and does require proof of an enterprise.”
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