Legal Impossibility

Legal Impossibility in the conspiracy context: situations where the object of the conspiracy is not, in fact, a crime—or cannot be completed because of legal facts about the participants.

The big issues:

Wharton's Rule — applies when the substantive offense intrinsically requires two participants.
Bilateral vs. Unilateral approaches — drives whether a conspiracy is even possible with a feigning officer.

See Wharton's Rule and the bilateral/unilateral analysis in Ch. 7—Conspiracy.

Cases:

State v. Mendoza, 889 A.2d 153 (2005) — Wharton's Rule.
State v. Huff, 769 N.W.2d 154 (2009) — legal impossibility no defense in unilateral jurx.