Four Georgia Teenagers Accused of Conspiracy, Armed Robbery, and Aggravated Assault

Four Cobb County teenagers allegedly convinced a teenage girl that they were friends. Then, according to reports, they pushed the girl out of a vehicle, held her at gunpoint, beat her up, and stole $150 off of her. 

The victim's mother reported that her daughter is covered in bruises from the alleged incident that occurred last Friday evening.

All four of the teenagers have been charged with:

• Conspiracy in Georgia
• Armed Robbery in Georgia
• Aggravated Assault in Georgia

As a Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyer, I'll use today's post to define the offense of conspiracy in Georgia and demonstrate the multitude of ways that an experienced defense attorney can fight it.

Conspiracy in Georgia

The arrest warrants show that the teenagers admitted to planning out the crime and stated that they thought she would be an easy person to rob. This is where the conspiracy charge comes from. The idea behind conspiracy crimes is to prevent heinous and serious crimes from taking place in the first place. 

Georgia Law defines conspiracy to commit a crime in Georgia as:

When a person together with one or more persons conspires to commit any crime and any one or more of such persons does any overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy. O.C.G.A. §16-4-8.

There are requirements that must be met in order for someone to be guilty of conspiracy. In fact, Georgia Courts hold that there must be an agreement between one or more persons. This agreement can be as insignificant as even a mere understanding between at least two people that they will commit a crime together.Moreover, Georgia Courts hold that the evidence behind the incident must show that the accused people acted with a common intent and purpose. The incident must have happened because of that particular intent and purpose.

In order to be deemed guilty and subsequently convicted of conspiracy, the accused person or persons must be actively working on the arrangement to commit a crime. If the accused person is found guilty of conspiracy to commit a crime and is convicted, then there are three different options for penalties. 

If the conspiracy was to commit a felony, then the the accused will be punished as if they were convicted of a felony. This means imprisonment of anywhere from one year to one half of the maximum period of the felony crime they were conspiring to commit. 

If the conspiracy was to commit a misdemeanor, then the accused will be punished as if they were convicted of a misdemeanor. 

If the conspiracy was to commit a crime that could be punishable by a life sentence or by death, the punishment will be for imprisonment between one to ten years. 

Practice Note

As I mentioned above, there are various Georgia Criminal Defenses that apply to an accusation of conspiracy to commit a crime. Some of these defenses include:

• Proving that the parties never reached an agreement or understanding.
• Proving that only one person planned the crime.
• Proving that the accused person stopped all actions towards planning.

The most important defense is arming yourself with a Georgia Criminal Defense Attorney. So, if you or a loved one has been charged with a crime in Georgia, contact us today.