§705-526 Grading of criminal conspiracy. (1) A conspiracy to commit murder in any degree is a class A felony.
(2) Except as provided in subsection (1), a conspiracy to commit a class A felony is a class B felony.
(3) Except as provided in subsections (1) and (2), conspiracy to commit a crime is an offense of the same class and grade as the most serious offense which is an object of the conspiracy. [L 1972, c 9, pt of §1; am L 1997, c 149, §3]
COMMENTARY ON §705-526
Except for the reduction of conspiracy to commit a class A felony, the Code makes the same sanctions available for criminal conspiracy as are made available for the substantive offense which is the object of the conspiracy. The discussion in the commentary on §705-502 regarding the Code's position in postulating a general equivalence, for sentencing purposes, between criminal attempt and the offense attempted is generally applicable to this section which postulates approximately the same equivalence in the conspiracy context. Due to the extreme inchoate nature of the offense, reduction in sentence in the case of class A felonies is provided.
Under previous Hawaii law, a conspiracy to commit any felony was a conspiracy of the "first degree," punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to ten years, or a maximum fine of $10,000, or both.[1] The Code reserves this magnitude of sentence (which corresponds roughly to a sentence for a class B felony[2] for conspiracies to commit offenses which the Code has made class A or B felonies. Under the Code, however, conspiracy to commit a class C felony may not be penalized as severely as under past Hawaii law, since under the Code a class C felony ordinarily carries a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment.[3]
The Code is also in accord with previous Hawaii law regarding conspiracies to commit misdemeanors, since both normally impose a maximum fine of $1,000, or a maximum term of imprisonment of one year, or both.[4] The former law would, however, have allowed for harsher treatment of those offenses which the Code terms petty misdemeanors, since conspiracies to commit all non-felonies were treated the same under Hawaii law.5
Generally speaking, the Code is in substantial accord with previous Hawaii law, however, it allows for a closer concurrence between the grade of the crime which was the object of the conspiracy and the sanction imposed for that conspiracy.
SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY ON §705-526
Act 149, Session Laws 1997, amended this section to provide that conspiracy to commit murder in any degree is a class A felony. The legislature found that the offense of murder warranted punishment under the Code sufficient to fit the grave consequences of the crime, and that persons who are found guilty of conspiracy or solicitation to commit murder should also be penalized to a similarly serious degree. The legislature recognized that two Hawaii supreme court opinions, State v. Kaakimaka (84 H. 280, 933 P.2d 617 (1997)) and State v. Soto (84 H. 229, 933 P.2d 66 (1997)), concluded that conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder are class C felonies. The legislature acknowledged that the decisions had led to incongruous sentencing under the sentencing guidelines of the Code. Conspiracy and solicitation are ordinarily designated the same level of felony offense as the underlying crime, or at the very least, one grade lower. Senate Standing Committee Report No. 1600.
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§705-526 Commentary:
1. H.R.S. §728-9.
2. Cf. §§706-640 and 660.
3. §706-660.
4. H.R.S. §728-10; §§706-640(3) and 663, this Code.
5. H.R.S. §728-10.