Defenses to Attempted Murder Charges in Los Angeles (Penal Code Section 664)

Attempted murder is an extremely serious charge. If you are convicted of this offense, you could face up to life in prison. Fortunately, our skilled attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have over 40 years of experience successfully defending clients facing attempted murder charges.

We want to share how we can defend you in the event you are accused of attempted murder. First, let’s take a brief look at the elements of attempted murder…

What is Attempted Murder? (PC 664)

Attempted murder is the incomplete, unsuccessful act of killing a person (or a fetus). Although the elements of the offense appear to be fairly straightforward, some issues of the attempted murder charge may lead to a dismissal or result in a reduction of the charges against you.

In California, a prosecutor bears the burden of proving you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the following elements in an attempted murder case:

• You took some direct action towards killing another person; and
• Your action was intended to kill (not merely injure) someone.

Direct Action is Required

Any act that is directly done in order to complete an intent to kill is a direct step. Merely preparing to kill someone or planning to do so is not sufficient to satisfy the elements of attempted murder.

The required direct act may consist of using a weapon against someone such as a gun or knife, and either inflicting serious injury or firing a weapon into an area of the body most likely to cause death, such as someone’s head or chest.

A direct act also includes soliciting and paying someone to kill another person.

Other examples of acts that show intent to murder are stalking or luring someone to a specific location where you intended to murder them or buying all the materials necessary to commit a murder, such as the makings of a bomb, and then driving to the person’s house to carry out the act.

Intent to Kill is Required

Causing serious injury to someone is not enough to prove attempted murder unless there is evidence of the actual intent to kill the person. For example, stabbing a person in the leg does not necessarily show an intent to kill, but shooting that person in the chest is more likely to satisfy the required intent.

However, it is not necessary to have the specific intent to actually kill a particular person. The act of firing a gun into a residence and injuring a person who is not the intended target meets the elements of attempted murder because you demonstrated an intent to kill by discharging a firearm into an inhabited place.

Wallin & Klarich has Won =Cases by Using these Defenses to Attempted Murder Charges

An “affirmative defense” to a criminal charge is a fact pattern that, if proven by the defendant, defeats or lessens the legal consequences of the defendant’s otherwise unlawful conduct. Common defenses in an attempted murder prosecution that an experienced criminal defense attorney may be able to raise on your behalf include:

• • • • Self-defense/Defense of others (PC 197): Otherwise known as “justifiable homicide” under California Penal Code 197, you are entitled to use reasonable force to protect yourself or another person against a threat of serious injury or death if you reasonably believe that you are about to suffer imminent bodily harm.If deadly force is used against you, you are allowed to respond with deadly force. In such a situation, you are not obligated to retreat, but rather, you may “stand your ground.”

• • • • The Castle Doctrine (PC 198.5): California law pursuant to Penal Code Section 198.5 also authorizes justifiable homicide as a “defense of habitation.” The castle doctrine is a legal concept that designates a person’s home or property as a place in which that person has certain protections and immunities permitting the use of deadly force to defend themselves against an intruder in an intentional, violent and surprise invasion.

• • • • Insanity Defense (M’Naghten Rule): Under California’s insanity defense, you are considered legally insane if you either did not understand the nature of your criminal act or did not understand that what you were doing was morally wrong.This definition of legal insanity is known as the “M’Naghten rule,” named after a famous British case in 1843 [M’Naghten’s case (1843) UKHL J16 (19 June 1843)]. If your criminal defense attorney can prove you were legally insane at the time you attempted to commit murder, you cannot be convicted.

• • • • Abandonment: Even if you clearly planned to commit a murder, so long as you did not take a direct step towards completing the crime, you cannot be convicted of attempted murder. Abandonment is a complete defense to attempted murder provided that you freely and voluntarily abandoned your plan to kill someone prior to taking the next (direct) step.

Reduce Attempted Murder to Attempted Manslaughter

Our attorneys may be able to reduce your attempted murder charge by arguing to a violation of attempted voluntary manslaughter.

California law under Penal Code Section 192 describes manslaughter as the unlawful killing of a human being without malice. This means you held no evil intent to cause injury or death.

Attempted voluntary manslaughter is a defense to attempted murder if your criminal defense attorney can prove that you were either provoked to commit an act you wouldn’t normally have done or had a genuine but ultimately unreasonable (or “imperfect”) fear of being harmed.

In attempted murder cases, a prosecutor may be able to prove the two elements necessary to sustain a conviction: (1) you took a direct step and (2) you had intent to kill someone. However, your attempt could be mitigated for the following reasons:

• Provocation Defense: Your attorney may be successful in reducing the charge to attempted voluntary manslaughter because you were provoked either:
  • • In a sudden quarrel; or
    • In the heat of passion.

  To succeed, the provocation must be proven to have been so intense that it would cause an ordinary person in a similar situation to react extremely and emotionally rather than logically. This is an objective standard. Your actions are justifiable only insofar as a reasonable person would have reacted if similarly provoked.

• Imperfect Self-defense: Imperfect self-defense may also reduce your criminal liability in a charge of attempted murder to that of attempted voluntary manslaughter. In this defense, your attorney may argue:
  • You believed that you were in immediate danger of suffering great bodily injury or death; and
  • While acting in self-defense or in defense of another; you
    • Genuinely felt the use of deadly force was necessary to defend against that danger; but
    • That belief was objectively unreasonable.

Our Attorneys at Wallin & Klarich are Here to Help You

If you or someone you care about is facing attempted murder charges, speak to one of our skilled criminal defense attorneys at Wallin & Klarich as soon as possible. The sooner we are able to evaluate the evidence in your case, the better we can prepare a defense that gives you the best opportunity to overcome the serious charges of attempted murder.

Our skilled team of defense attorneys have over 40 years of experience successfully defending our clients accused of attempted murder. We may be able to negotiate for a reduction or dismissal of the charges against you. If your case goes to trial, our objective is to get you a not-guilty verdict.

With offices in Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, Torrance, Tustin, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, West Covina and Victorville, our attorneys at Wallin & Klarich are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide you with the very best legal representation. We will employ every available strategy to help you get the best result possible in your case.

Call us today at (877) 4-NO-JAIL or (877) 466-5245 for a free telephone consultation. We will get through this together.

Information and sources used for this blog include:

<sup>1. [People v. Dillon, 34 Cal. 3d 441, 454, 668 P. 2d 697, 702, 194 Cal. Rptr. 390, 395 (1983) (“subsequent events tending to show such an abandonment are irrelevant once the requisite intent and act are proved” (citations omitted)).]↩
2. [CALCRIM 600 — California’s attempted murder law. (“[A person who attempts to commit murder is guilty of attempted murder even if, after taking a direct step toward killing, he or she abandons further efforts to complete the crime, or his or her attempt fails or is interrupted by someone or something beyond his or her control. On the other hand, if a person freely and voluntarily abandons his or her plans before taking a direct step toward committing the murder, then that person is not guilty of attempted murder.]”)]↩
3. [Attempted voluntary manslaughter is a lesser included offense. (People v. Van Ronk (1985) 171 Cal.App.3d 818, 824-825 [217 Cal.Rptr. 581]; People v. Williams (1980) 102 Cal.App.3d 1018, 1024-1026 [162 Cal.Rptr. 748].)]↩</sup>