People v. . Moran

Citations

• 25 N.E. 412
• 123 N.Y. 254
• 8 N.Y. Crim. 105
• 33 N.Y. St. Rep. 397
• 78 Sickels 254
• 1890 N.Y. LEXIS 1730

Syllabus

<p>The provisions of the Penal Code, § 34, defining an attempt as “an act done with intent to commit a crime, and tending but failing to effect its commission,” were intended to reach cases where the intent to commit a crime as an effort to perpetrate it, although ineffectual, existed. Whenever the intent to commit the crime exists, followed by acts apparently affording a prospect of success and tending to render the commission of the crime effectual, the accused brings himself within the statute.</p> <p>The question whether an attempt to commit a crime has been made is to be determined solely by the condition of the actor’s mind and his conduct in the attempted consummation of his design.</p> <p>Evidence that defendant in a crowded market was seen to thrust his hand into the pocket of a woman and to withdraw it therefrom empty, is sufficient to warrant a conviction of an attempt to commit larceny without proof that the pocket contained anything.</p> <p>Section 1447 of ch. 410 of the Laws of 1883 was repealed by the subsequent adoption of the Penal .Code as being inconsistent therewith.</p>