1. A person commits the offense of attempt to commit murder when, with the intent to
cause the death of another person and not under circumstances which would justify the
person’s actions, the person does any act by which the person expects to set in motion a
force or chain of events which will cause or result in the death of the other person.
2. Attempt to commit murder is a class “B” felony.
3. It is not a defense to an indictment for attempt to commit murder that the acts proved
could not have caused the death of any person, provided that the actor intended to cause the
death of some person by so acting, and the actor’s expectations were not unreasonable in the
light of the facts known to the actor.
4. For purposes of determining whether the person should register as a sex offender
pursuant to the provisions of chapter 692A, the fact finder shall make a determination as
provided in section 692A.126.
5. a. As used in this subsection, “peace officer” means the same as defined in section 801.4.
b. For purposes of determining the category of sentence under section 903A.2, the fact
finder shall determine whether the attempt to commit murder was committed against a peace
officer, with the knowledge that the person against whom the attempt to commit murder was
committed was a peace officer acting in the officer’s official capacity.
c. If the fact finder determines the attempt to commit murder was against a peace officer
as described in paragraph “b”, the person shall serve one hundred percent of the term of
confinement imposed and shall be denied parole, work release, or other early release.
[C51, §2591, 2596; R60, §4214, 4219; C73, §3872, 3877; C97, §4768, 4773, 4797; S13, §4768;
C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §12915, 12918, 12962; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, §690.6, 690.9,
697.2; C79, 81, §707.11; 82 Acts, ch 1239, §2]
2009 Acts, ch 119, §52; 2013 Acts, ch 90, §226; 2014 Acts, ch 1026, §134; 2017 Acts, ch 122,
§12; 2018 Acts, ch 1026, §171
Referred to in §692A.102, 692A.126, 902.12, 903A.2\n\nTue Dec 09 21:56:41 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 707 (30, 1)
\n
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
151
cases (
39 in the last 5 years), 1979–2026 · leading case:
State v. Young, 686 N.W.2d 182 (Iowa 2004).
State v. Young, 686 N.W.2d 182 (Iowa 2004).
· cites it 14× “The language of the statute, “the person does any act by which the person expects to set in motion a force or chain of events which will cause or result in the death of the other person,” defines the type of overt act that is in furtherance of the required specific intent to…”
State of Iowa v. Kevin Deshay Ambrose, 861 N.W.2d 550 (Iowa 2015).
· cites it 8× “2, two counts of attempt to commit murder in violation of section 707.11, and felon in possession of a firearm in violation of section 724.”
State v. Braggs, 784 N.W.2d 31 (Iowa 2010).
· cites it 14× “1, § 711 (codified at Iowa Code § 707.11 (1979)). This new statute became effective Jan.”
State v. Hunt, 801 N.W.2d 366 (Iowa Ct. App. 2011).
· cites it 12× “at 183 (quoting Iowa Code § 707.11 ). The defendant argued the court’s substitution of “could have caused” instead of “will cause” set a lower standard because “ ‘will’ connotes certainty, while ‘could’ connotes speculation or uncertainty.”
State of Iowa v. Sayvon Andre Propps, 897 N.W.2d 91 (Iowa 2017).
· cites it 4× “On April 20, the State charged Propps with attempted murder in violation of Iowa Code section 707.11 (2011). Propps entered into a plea agreement with the State whereby he agreed to plead guilty to four counts of the lesser charge of willful injury causing serious injury.”
Robert Krogmann v. State of Iowa, 914 N.W.2d 293 (Iowa 2018).
· cites it 4× “Krogmann was quickly apprehended and charged with attempted murder in violation of Iowa Code section 707.11 (2009) and willful injury causing serious injury in violation of Iowa Code section 708.”
State of Iowa v. Christopher Clay McNeal, 897 N.W.2d 697 (Iowa 2017).
· cites it 3× “” On March 30, the State charged McNeal with attempted murder, see Iowa Code § 707.11 (1) (2015), first-degree burglary, see id.”
State v. Rodriquez, 636 N.W.2d 234 (Iowa 2001).
· cites it 4× “See Iowa Code §§ 707.11 , 708.4, 710.1, 710.4, 708.”
State v. Kehoe, 804 N.W.2d 302 (Iowa Ct. App. 2011).
· cites it 12× “2d 182, 185 (Iowa 2004); see also Iowa Code § 707.11 . 4 Malice aforethought is a not required element under the express language of the statute.”
State Of Iowa Vs. Mark Thomas Hennings, 791 N.W.2d 828 (Iowa 2010).
· cites it 4× “The State charged Hennings with count I, attempted murder in violation of Iowa Code section 707.11 (2005); count II, willful injury in violation of section 708.”
United States v. Ricky Peeples, 879 F.3d 282 (8th Cir. 2018).
· cites it 3× “Crime of Violence Peeples first challenges the district court’s finding that attempted murder under Iowa Code § 707.11 (1991) is a crime of violence under § 2K2.”
— Iowa Code § 707.11(1) — 15 cases
— Iowa Code § 707.11(2) — 2 cases
— Iowa Code § 707.11(5) — 4 cases
— Iowa Code § 707.11(5)(b) — 1 case
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.