Criminal Law

Brief

People v. Rizzo

Procedural History:

• Convicted of an attempt to commit the crime of robbery in the first degree.
• Appealed.
• Reversed.

Facts:

• January 14^th, Rizzo and others planned to rob on Charles Rao of a pay roll valued at about $1,200 which he would be carrying from the bank for the United Lathing Company.
• The four rode about in their car looking Rao for which they were unsuccessful.
• After some time they were being watched and followed by two police officers.
• When they reached 180^th street and Morris Park Ave. Rizzo jumped out of the car and the four were all arrested.
• At this point, the defendants had not found or seen the man they intended to rob.

Issue:

• Does this constitute a crime of an attempt to commit a robbery?>

Holding:

• No. Reversed.

Reasoning:

• The act or acts must come or advance very near to the accomplishment of the intended crime.
• Rao was not found, the defendants were still looking for him, there was no attempt to rob him, he was not in the building Rizzo ran into, and apparently no money had been drawn from the bank for the pay roll by anybody at the time of the arrest.
• The court found them not guilty of an attempt to commit robbery when they had not found or reached the presence of the person they intended to rob.