Also known as: criminal attempts · criminal attempt · attempt doctrine · attempt · inchoate attempt
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A common law principle holding a defendant liable for an inchoate offense when the defendant acts with specific intent to commit a target crime and performs an overt act that comes dangerously close to completion under the proximity test. The doctrine treats factual impossibility as no defense. Once the defendant crosses from preparation into an attempt, withdrawal or abandonment provides no defense.
Dolores Diaz agreed with an accomplice to break into a warehouse and steal electronics. She purchased tools and drove to the site, but the accomplice completed the entry and theft alone. Prosecutors charged Diaz with attempt. Because the principal offense was finished, the inchoate conduct merged into the completed felony and the attempt charge was dismissed.
Daphne Doyle, a solo practitioner, drafted a settlement agreement that contained a false statement about client assets. She stopped short of filing it after a colleague warned her. The grievance committee charged her with attempting to violate the professional conduct rules. Because the conduct reflected an attempt to engage in dishonesty, the charge stood even though the document was never submitted.
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Dylan Duffy swung a baseball bat at Doris Duffy from behind a curtain, intending to strike her. Doris never saw the swing and the bat missed. Doris sued for assault. Because she remained unaware of the attempt before it ended, no assault liability arose despite the clear intent and overt act.
Dorothy Daniels tore up her will believing her son had predeceased her. When she learned he was alive, she sought to treat the revocation as ineffective. The court applied the doctrine of dependent relative revocation and held the tearing ineffective because it rested on a mistaken factual assumption about the son's status.
Damian Decker and two co-owners tried to burden their jointly owned parcel with a restrictive covenant limiting commercial use. The fourth owner refused to sign. The attempted servitude failed to bind the entire estate, yet the signing owners remained personally bound by their agreement and the document could support a later estoppel claim.
Doris Duffy carried a loaded pistol while prying open a warehouse window at night. Police arrested her before she entered. Because she was armed with a deadly weapon during the attempt, the burglary charge was elevated to a higher-degree felony under the in-course-of-committing provision.
No. A defendant who intends to commit a crime and takes an overt act toward it remains liable even when unknown facts make success impossible, such as attempting to receive goods that police have already recovered.
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Conduct becomes an attempt only when it comes dangerously close to completing the target offense. Actions such as buying bullets or driving to the victim's house remain preparatory, while pointing a loaded gun and pulling the trigger satisfies the test.
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No. Once the defendant has crossed the line from preparation to an overt act with the required intent, abandonment or withdrawal supplies no defense under the traditional common law rule.
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…(Roe) for a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief against the Texas abortion laws, which make it a crime to procure or attempt an abortion except on medical advice for the purpose of saving the mother's life. A licensed physician (Hallford), who had been performing abortions, and a married couple (the Does), who…