| Court: | New York Court of Appeals |
| Facts: | Rizzo and friends drive around the city hoping to rob a payroll delivery. They never find the guy. |
| Posture: | Guilty at trial. |
| Issue: | Is it attempt if you want to do a crime and prepare to do it? |
| Holding: | No. Reversed and remanded for new trial. |
| Rule: | An attempt is an act done with intent to commit a crime, and tending but failing to effect its commission. |
| Reasoning: | Lots of acts are too remote to consitute attempt. But no attempt to rob a person could be made until that person was in sight. So here, they could not be guilty of attempt to commit robbery. |
| Dicta: | Strangely, only one of the four appealed, but if he was not guilty, neither were they. But they didn't appeal, so what are we to do? |