People v. Jaffe

185 N.Y. 497, 78 N.E. 169 (1906)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

An indictment charged D with feloniously received twenty yards of cloth of the value of twenty-five cents a yard belonging to J. W. Goddard & Son, knowing that the said property had been feloniously stolen, taken and carried away from the owners. Under section 550 of the Penal Code, a person who buys or receives any stolen property knowing the same to have been stolen is guilty of criminally receiving such property. D was convicted of an attempt to commit the crime charged in the indictment. At trial, the district attorney conceded that the goods had lost their character as stolen goods at the time when they were offered to D. The property had been restored to the owners and was wholly within their control and was offered to D by their authority and through their agency. The conviction was sustained by the Appellate Division on authority that held that one may be convicted of an attempt to commit a crime notwithstanding the existence of facts unknown to him which would have rendered the complete perpetration of the crime itself impossible.