Iniguez

Defendant Juan Manuel Iniguez, Jr., pleaded guilty to conduct described at the time of the plea and at sentencing as “conspiracy to commit attempted murder.” The court imposed a term of nine years, which corresponds to the aggravated punishment for the object of the purported conspiracy, attempted murder. Defendant appeals, contending that the court erred in selecting the aggravated term and in computing his custody credits.

The Attorney General has responded that the conviction must be reversed because defendant has been convicted of a nonexistent crime. We will reverse the conviction. This is because the targeted crime of the conspiracy, attempted murder, requires a specific intent to actually commit the murder, while the agreement underlying the conspiracy pleaded to contemplated no more than an ineffectual act. No one can simultaneously intend to do and not do the same act, here the actual commission of a murder. This inconsistency in required mental states makes the purported conspiracy to commit attempted murder a legal falsehood.

Procedural Background

The facts underlying the charged conduct are irrelevant to the issues on appeal. We will instead recount in some…