People v. Foster
Supreme Court of Illinois
457 N.E.2d 405 (1983)
- Written by Sara Rhee, JD
Facts
On September 28, 1981, James Foster (defendant) approached John Ragsdale to enlist his help in robbing an elderly man named A.O. Hedrick. Once Ragsdale ascertained that Foster was serious, he decided to find out more information from Foster in order to turn him over to the police. Ragsdale told police that the robbery would occur on October 3. On that day, Foster and Ragsdale met at Hedrick’s home, where they were met by police. Foster was arrested and charged with conspiracy. A jury convicted Foster of conspiracy to commit robbery. The appellate court reversed Foster's conviction, holding that the crime of conspiracy requires an actual agreement between at least two people (i.e., the bilateral theory of conspiracy), and Ragsdale had only pretended to agree to Foster's plan for the robbery. The people of the State of Illinois (plaintiff) appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court. On appeal, the state argued that the crime of conspiracy only requires one person's intent to agree to commit a crime (i.e., the unilateral theory of conspiracy), or, alternatively, that there was enough evidence to convict Foster under the bilateral theory.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Underwood, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
