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Soliciting A Crime In California – Penal Code Section 653f

Penal Code Section 653F

If one person solicits another person to commit a crime and that person actually gets the communication related to the crime, understands it and commits a crime, then the person who solicited the crime will also be guilty of the crime as well.

I've seen this a lot in murder cases where somebody solicits another person to commit a murder against another party. It's not just limited to murder cases. It can be soliciting a person to commit any crime.

General Information:

Soliciting A Crime

The crime that the person will be charged with will related to whatever they solicited the person to do. This can be a serious crime and can come with the same consequences as if you committed the crime yourself.

So, if you're charged with soliciting a crime, you obviously want to get in front of an attorney, let them know exactly what happened so that you can begin the process and strategizing of defending yourself for the crime of soliciting another person to commit a crime.

Defenses to Soliciting a Crime

Pursuant to California Penal Code Section 653f, one defense that I've seen and makes sense is that you were just joking. In other words, when you supposedly solicited the crime, you had no intention of it being carried out and the person that you allegedly solicited to commit the crime obviously knew that you were joking.

Usually, in order for there to be any type of a conviction or prosecution for soliciting a crime in LA, the police or prosecutors are going to actually find out about it.

That usually occurs when somebody solicits a crime, the crime is committed, and then the authorities do an investigation and they figure out why the crime was committed, who committed it, the person that committed it actually confesses to it and indicates that someone else solicited them to commit that crime – this is probably the usual scenario where somebody would find out about a solicitation of a crime.

Another area that we see is when parties are acting together in order to commit some sort of insurance fraud, they can solicit another person to give false documents, for example, or do other things related to this crime, and then anybody involved with that would be charged with soliciting a crime if they asked another person to do so. That's the key thing.

This should not be confused with aiding or abetting or any of the other theories of culpability in criminal cases. It's real specific. One person solicits another to commit a crime. That person actually gets the communication and finds out about it. These are the crucial elements when it comes to soliciting a crime in Los Angeles.

Lawyer to Review the Details of the Case

What I typically do is have the party that's charged with soliciting a crime in Los Angeles, come into my office. We sit down and go over all the details and see if there's a defense. See if the prosecutors and police are actually going to be able to meet the elements of this crime, or maybe they don't have the elements met, especially once your version of events is gotten across to the police.

A lot of time the police will only do a one-sided investigation and not get your side of the story. In this case, the job would be to let the prosecutors who are the lawyers and decide the charges, know the other facts that are relevant to a potential defense or to show that this is not a solicitation of a criminal case, therefore, protecting your record, your reputation, your rights and your freedom.

For more information on Soliciting A Crime In Los Angeles, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (213) 542-0979 today.

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