Williams v. State
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
646 S.W.2d 221 (1983)

- Written by Kelli Lanski, JD
Facts
A police officer asked Steve Jennings to cultivate a friendship with Stanley Thomas Williams (defendant). While doing so, Jennings suggested to Williams that they set up a kidnapping for ransom. Williams agreed, and they created a plot to kidnap the son of Williams’s former boss and kill the boy after collecting $100,000 in ransom money. Two days before the kidnapping was scheduled to occur, Jennings informed his police contact of the plans, and police recorded Jennings while he discussed the kidnapping with Williams. Williams was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping. At Williams’s trial, Jennings testified that he was involved in the plot only to get information for police and never intended to go through with the kidnapping. Williams was convicted and appealed, arguing that there was no conspiracy because a conspiracy required an agreement between at least two conspirators. Williams argued that he and Jennings did not have an agreement because Jennings did not actually intend to commit the crime.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (McCormick, J.)
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