People v. Dlugash, 41 N.Y.2d 725, 363 N.E.2d 1155, 394 N.Y.S.2d 396 (N.Y. 1977)
People v. Dlugash is a foundational modern attempt-liability case that reshaped how courts analyze the so-called impossibility defense.
Whether a defendant can be held liable for attempted murder where it is uncertain (or even impossible) that the victim was alive at the time of the defendant's shots—i.e., whether impossibility is a defense to attempt when the offense would have been completed had the circumstances been as the defendant believed them to be.
Under New York Penal Law § 110.10 (and consistent with the Model Penal Code), impossibility is not a defense to attempt if the crime would have been committed had the circumstances been as the actor believed them to be. Attempt liability is assessed by the circumstances as the defendant believes them to exist at the time of the conduct; thus, a defendant may be guilty of attempt even if completion was factually or legally impossible under the actual circumstances.
The New York Court of Appeals set aside the murder conviction because the People failed to prove the victim was alive when the defendant fired but concluded that, under § 110.10, the defendant could be convicted of attempted murder since the jury could find he intended to kill and believed the victim to be alive. The court modified the judgment to reflect attempted murder and remanded for appropriate proceedings.
Dlugash is the leading New York case (and a widely cited authority nationwide) on impossibility and attempt. It endorses the MPC-inspired, belief-centered analysis and discards the rigid factual/legal impossibility divide. For law students, it illuminates how attempt punishes dangerous purpose and substantial steps rather than completed harm, and it demonstrates appellate modification to lesser-included offenses when proof fails on an element (here, the victim's being alive) unique to the completed crime. The case provides a template for analyzing classic hypotheticals like pickpocketing an empty pocket or shooting into an empty bed: liability turns on the actor's intent and the circumstances as the actor believed them to be.