A friend approaches you with an idea that they believe will make a significant amount of money, but it’s also against the law. For instance, maybe they are interested in transporting illegal drugs to another state. They know where they can get the substances, so they just approach you to help with the process.
You are worried about engaging in criminal activity, but you and your friend do go and rent a vehicle that you plan to use to transport the illegal drugs. Once you do, however, the police arrive and arrest both of you. You feel that they have nothing they can charge you with because you haven’t actually obtained the illegal drugs, transported them anywhere or sold them to anyone else. You claim you haven’t broken the law; all you’ve done is rent a van.
Conspiracy charges are still possible
In a situation like this, it is important to understand that you could still be charged with criminal conspiracy. This is because conspiracy charges only require you to plan to break the law and then take one step toward doing so. You don’t necessarily have to complete your goal to be charged with a conspiracy.
In the example above, you and your friend discussed transporting illegal drugs. You then rented a van, which counts as your one step toward engaging in the conspiracy. You wouldn’t be charged with drug trafficking, of course, because you haven’t done that yet. But you could still face conspiracy charges all the same.
Cases like these can become very complex, and a conviction could come with serious ramifications, so you must understand your defense options.
