In the case of State of Missouri v. Tommy Rollins, Jr., No. 69814 (Mo. App. W.D., July 13, 2010), the defendant wanted to attack his former supervisor. The defendant drove into his former supervisor’s neighborhood subdivision and brought with him a gun and some fire bombs. Before the defendant got to the former supervisor’s house, the defendant decided to abandon the effort by throwing the bombs and gun into some weeds on a nearby lot.
The defendant was charged with attempted assault. At trial, the defense wanted the judge to instruct the jury on the common law defense of abandonment. The trial judge refused and the appeals court agreed. The law in Missouri that governs attempted crimes is 546.011. This law does not provide for an abandonment defense. In this case, the defendant took a substantial step that strongly corroborated a purpose to carry out an assault.
What you need to know: if you plan on committing a crime and take a substantial step toward that crime, than you have already violated the law of “attempt”, which generally carrys almost the same punishment as the intended crime.