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My AccountChapter 71
- 71.1 General Comments on Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity
- 71.2 Elements of Offense Committed “as a Member of a Criminal Street Gang”
- 71.3 Submission on Alternative Theories
- 71.4 Relationship of the Conspiracy and the “Combination”
- 71.5 Defining “Collaborate in Carrying on Criminal Activities”
- 71.6 “Parties” Law
- 71.7 Affirmative Defense of Renunciation under Texas Penal Code Section 71.05
- 71.8 Quasi-Renunciation Defense and Punishment
- 71.9 Instruction—Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity—Committing Covered Offense as Member of Criminal Street Gang
- 71.10 Instruction—Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity—Conspiring to Commit Covered Offense as Member of Criminal Street Gang
- 71.11 Instruction—Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity—Either Committing or Conspiring to Commit Covered Offense as Member of Criminal Street Gang and Verdict Form
- 71.12 Instruction—Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity—Committing Covered Offense to Participate in Combination
- 71.13 Instruction—Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity—Conspiring to Commit Covered Offense to Participate in Combination
- 71.14 Instruction—Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity—Committing or Conspiring to Commit Covered Offense to Participate in Combination and Verdict Form
- 71.15 Affirmative Defense of Renunciation under Texas Penal Code Section 71.05(a)
- 71.16 Instruction—Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity—Guilt-Innocence Renunciation Affirmative Defense
- 71.17 Punishment Mitigation—Quasi-Renunciation Issue under Texas Penal Code Sections 71.02(d) and 71.05(c)
- 71.18 Instruction—Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity—Quasi-Renunciation Punishment Issue (Texas Penal Code Section 71.02(d) Formulation)
- 71.19 Instruction—Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity—Quasi-Renunciation Punishment Issue (Texas Penal Code Section 71.05(c) Formulation)
- 71.20 Statutory History of Penal Code Section 71.023
- 71.21 Definition of “Conspires to Commit”
- 71.22 Instruction—Directing Activities of Criminal Street Gang
Comment
The offense of directing street gangs now can be committed by financing, directing, or supervising either the commission of a listed offense or a conspiracy to do so. The offense used as the example in the instruction at CPJC 71.22 is murder. Guidance for drafting instructions on murder may be found in chapter 19.
A prosecution on the theory of financing, directing, or supervising a conspiracy to commit a listed offense appears to incorporate the definition of “conspires to commit” in Texas Penal Code section 71.01(b).
The Committee is unclear how to apply section 71.01(b) in this context. The definition requires that the defendant himself conspire with at least one other to commit overt acts. Under section 71.023, however, the defendant himself need not be proved to have been a conspirator, so the definition in section 71.01(b) does not neatly fit the situation. The Committee’s proposed instruction simply includes the definition without addressing any difficulty in applying it in this context.