Even if you never went through with the crime you were thinking about committing, there are still ways that you could face charges. These could be serious and carry major ramifications. In some cases, you could even be charged with a felony that will stay on your record for life.
You may be shocked by this, claiming that you may have entertained the idea but that you never actually did anything wrong. How could this have happened?
The role of conspiracy charges
One way that this can occur is if you’re being charged for your part in a conspiracy. To use these charges, the authorities only need to know that you and at least one other person entered into the conspiracy together. You then did something to work toward that goal, even if you never fully carried out the conspiracy to completion. They do not have to wait for you to do it in order to charge you.
For instance, perhaps you and another person talked about ways to commit a robbery. You knew you’d need a van to do it, so you rented one. You planned to do it over the weekend. But then the authorities caught wind of the plan and arrested you during the week.
It’s natural to claim you didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t rob anyone. It’s not illegal to rent a van. You may feel that this is an unlawful arrest.
But planning the conspiracy and then renting the van can be seen as taking a step toward undertaking illegal activity. And that can be enough for you to face charges for the conspiracy itself, though not for the robbery. If you had carried it out, then you may have been charged with both, but the conspiracy charges can be used even if you did not finish the act.
So what can you do?
The mere fact that you can be arrested without committing the final crime does not mean that you have no options, however. You must know about all of your legal rights at this time.