State v. Tyma
Nebraska Supreme Court
651 N.W.2d 582 (2002)
- Written by Kelli Lanski, JD
Facts
Shireen Tyma (defendant) was getting divorced and wanted her husband dead. Over the course of a few months in 1999, Tyma had separate conversations with two men she knew, Kenneth Moore and Leo Purvis, and asked them both to kill her husband. Tyma sent several notes to Moore asking him to kill her husband and suggested several methods by which he could do it. Tyma made similar requests of Purvis after the two began dating and paid him small amounts of money as part of the agreement. Both men told Tyma that they would kill her husband for her. Tyma was charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. At her trial, both Moore and Purvis testified that they had feigned agreement and had no intention of actually killing Tyma’s husband. Tyma was convicted and appealed, arguing there was no agreement to conspire to commit murder because Moore and Purvis had no intention of killing Tyma’s husband. The state argued that under the unilateral theory of conspiracy, only one conspirator’s agreement need be genuine for a finding of conspiracy.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Stephan, J.)
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