## Facts

- An undercover Michigan State Police agent met with Genoa in a hotel and proposed that Genoa provide $10,000 for the agent to purchase a kilogram of cocaine, sell it, and return the money plus $3,500 profit and a client list.
- Genoa agreed and handed the agent $10,000.
- The agent immediately turned the money over to police; Genoa was arrested.
- The agent never intended to buy or sell cocaine, and no cocaine was purchased, possessed, or delivered by anyone.
- The prosecution charged Genoa, on an aiding-and-abetting theory, with attempted possession with intent to deliver 650 grams or more of cocaine.
- The district court dismissed the charge; the circuit court affirmed; the prosecution appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a defendant may be convicted as an aider and abettor of attempted possession with intent to deliver cocaine when no one actually commits the underlying possession-with-intent offense.
2. Whether Michigan law recognizes criminal liability for “attempting to aid” a crime that no actor commits.

## Decision

- The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of the charge.
- The court held the prosecution could not proceed on an aiding-and-abetting theory because the underlying drug offense was never committed by anyone.
- The court rejected treating Genoa’s conduct as a punishable “attempt to aid” absent statutory authorization.

## Legal Principles

- Aiding-and-abetting liability requires proof that an underlying crime was in fact committed by the defendant or another person, even though the principal need not be convicted.
- Where the only alleged principal is an undercover agent who lacks intent to commit the substantive offense and no offense occurs, the “underlying crime committed” element is not satisfied.
- Michigan attempt liability requires a specific intent to commit an offense plus an act toward its commission; absent an actual underlying offense and a culpable principal, “attempting to aid” is not an independently recognized basis for conviction without legislative enactment.

## Conclusion

Because no one committed the underlying possession-with-intent-to-deliver offense and Michigan law did not criminalize “attempting to aid” a non-occurring crime, the charge for attempted possession with intent to deliver based on accomplice liability was properly dismissed.


People v. Genoa, 188 Mich. App. 461, 470 N.W.2d 447 (Mich. Ct. App. 1991)