Commonwealth v. Reske

I have no doubt that there was larceny in the defendant’s heart as he rewrote the first sales contract and wrote up the remaining five contracts for Nellon to sign. But it is fundamental to criminal law that “there can be no criminal liability for bad thoughts alone. ...” LaFave and Scott, Substantive Criminal Law § 1.2(b) at 10 (1986). I dissent because I conclude that the defendant’s conduct, however ex-ploitive and unfair it may have been, does not fall within the crime of larceny by false pretenses.

1. There was no evidence of a false statement of material fact. The gist of the crime of…