Conspiracy has always been a murky term in the criminal law, and when the charge is brought in the United States District Court, it can be even more confusing. In the federal criminal justice system, a conspiracy charge related to drug trafficking or large-scale fraud operations can expose you to the risk of punishment every bit as severe as the main cocaine distribution or mortgage fraud count of an indictment. To learn what conspiracy means specifically in your federal case, contact an experienced criminal defense attorney at the Pagliara Law Group.
What does conspiracy mean?
A conspiracy is nothing more or less than an agreement between two or more people to commit a crime, together with an overt act by at least one person to advance the illegal purpose of the conspiracy. An actual crime need not have been committed, a conspirator need not know all the details of the illegal plan, and the overt act need not itself have been a crime. The agreement is the essence of the conspiracy, not the crime itself.
For example: if Rob, Tom and Bob agree to rob a liquor store on Friday night, and Bob delivers a disguise and a toy gun to Tom on Friday afternoon, and Rob drives Tom to the store at about the time the robbery was supposed to take place, all three can be charged with conspiracy, whether or not the store was robbed.
We can defend you against complex federal conspiracy charges
In real life, a federal conspiracy offense might involve dozens or hundreds of people, with most unknown to one another, who are alleged to have participated in a complex drug trafficking or fraud scheme. Our understanding of federal fraud law can help you by attacking the evidence linking you to the agreement, by showing that the alleged overt acts were in fact innocent and unconnected to the criminal conduct, or even by demonstrating your withdrawal from the agreement before the underlying crimes occurred — our analysis of the facts will identify the best approach.
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