Conspirators don’t have to plot to take money from someone outside of the conspiracy to be guilty of conspiracy to commit extortion, the U.S. Supreme Court said May 2 (Ocasio v. United States, 2016 BL 138246, U.S., 14-361, 5/2/16).
“Age-old principles of conspiracy law” show that conspirators don’t have to be capable of committing the underlying offense—here, taking property “from another” under color of official right in violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. §1951—Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the 5-3 majority.
It’s enough that “the conspirators agreed that the underlying crime be committed by ...
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