A conspiracy to commit a federal crime occurs when two or more people agree to commit a crime. In Federal court, defendants may be charged with both committing the crime and conspiring to commit the crime. To be charged with conspiracy, an individual does not have to have taken part in the commission of the criminal act; conspiracy is a separate crime, and charges may be applied even after the criminal offense occurs. Additionally, the government doesn’t have to prove that there was any written agreement between the co-conspirators; the prosecutor can prove a conspiracy just by proving that the people it says were involved in the conspiracy were working together to do some crime.
Courts have held that a person can be in a conspiracy with another person even if they have never met, as long as they knew the other person was doing something to further the conspiracy. This is common in situations such as illegal drug dealing where a central person or group of people is coordinating the work of others.
The United States Code contains several specific conspiracy provisions; the general federal conspiracy statute is 18 U.S.C. § 371, which criminalizes conspiracies to defraud the United States as well as conspiracies to violate any other provision of federal law.
In addition, 21 U.S.C. § 846 makes it illegal to commit a conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, or possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. 18 U.S.C. § 1951 prohibits committing a robbery of any article in interstate commerce and contains its own conspiracy provision.
One serious consequence of a conspiracy charge is that even very minor participants may be swept up in the same case as someone who is responsible for more serious criminal offenses. This is a particular problem in drug conspiracy cases in which a person who had a very minor role in a situation involving a significant quantity of drugs can be subject to a mandatory minimum for all the drugs in the conspiracy. Under the federal sentencing guidelines, penalties for committing a conspiracy and committing the underlying offense are usually the same. In order for the jury to find a defendant guilty of conspiracy, the jury does not have to conclude that he entered into an explicit agreement with another person to commit the crime, only that an understanding was reached.
Federal prosecutors like to bring conspiracy charges because it liberates them of certain evidentiary restrictions. Because conspiracy charges are so broad, and because so much of the law created by federal courts about conspiracy is challenging for people accused of federal conspiracy offenses, an attorney representing a client in a federal conspiracy case has to very carefully investigate the government’s evidence to know how to adequately defend his or her client. Conspiracy charges often give rise to complicated issues about when the conspiracy began, the admission of hearsay statements of some conspirators against others, whether the trial should be severed (i.e. the defendants tried individually), etc.
There must be substantial evidence in order for conspiracy charges to stick. There may be opportunity to discredit such charges with various legal defenses, such as claiming that the defendant removed themselves as a member of the conspiracy, that there never was an actual agreement, that there was no action taken towards the crime or that the conspiracy was a false accusation.
In order for the jury to find a defendant guilty of conspiracy, they only have to conclude that an understanding was reached between the accused parties. Under federal sentencing guidelines the penalties for committing a conspiracy is usually the same as for committing the underlying offense. If you are facing a conspiracy charge in federal court, it is especially important to retain a lawyer experienced in this area of law. Contact the offices of Kuniansky and Associates at 713-622-8333 for a free consultation.
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