United States v. Conigliaro

Richard G. Stearns, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

*403A scholarly-minded member of the Massachusetts Appeals Court once wrote: "If sheer volume of literature be the measure of fascination, then few subjects have been as intriguing for criminal law scholars as the nexus between the doctrine of impossibility and the crime of attempt." Commonwealth v. Bell , 67 Mass. App. Ct. 266, 266, 853 N.E.2d 563 (2006) (Katzmann, J.). This case raises a variant of the classical example of the thief who reaches into an empty pocket, see People v. Jaffe , 185 N.Y. 497, 78 N.E. 169 (1906). Can a person be liable for…