## Facts

- Donna Y. Gordon was a practicing attorney who sought contact with a “trustworthy” Los Angeles police officer through a colleague who knew Officer Joseph Stanley.
- Gordon contacted Stanley and initially represented that she had information about a large quantity of cocaine that police could seize.
- When Gordon met with Stanley, she explained that she had a client who wanted an adversary discredited.
- Gordon asked whether Stanley could seize the cocaine and then plant some of it on the adversary to frame the person.
- Gordon told Stanley that doing so would be worth about $10,000.
- Stanley pretended to cooperate and continued discussing the plan with Gordon, including in later telephone conversations that Stanley secretly recorded.
- Gordon later told Stanley she had changed her mind because she feared the plan could harm her potential political career.
- Gordon was charged and convicted of solicitation of a bribe under California Penal Code § 653f and appealed.

## Issues

1. Does solicitation of a bribe under Penal Code § 653f require the person solicited to agree, accept, or take steps toward the bribe, or is the offense complete when the request is made with the required intent?
2. If the solicitation was complete, does a later change of mind or repudiation provide a defense?

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of conviction.
- The court held that solicitation under Penal Code § 653f is completed when the defendant intentionally communicates a serious request that another commit the prohibited bribery-related conduct; acceptance or further action by the person solicited is not required.
- The court held Gordon’s later statement that she had changed her mind did not negate guilt because the offense, if committed, was complete when the solicitation was made.
- The court found the evidence—Stanley’s testimony and the recorded conversations—sufficient to support the finding that Gordon offered money for misuse of police authority (seizing cocaine and planting it on an adversary).

## Legal Principles

- Solicitation of a bribe under Penal Code § 653f is an inchoate offense that is complete upon a communicated request made with the specific intent that the solicited crime occur.
- The person solicited need not agree, accept, or take any step toward carrying out the solicited crime.
- A later withdrawal, repudiation, or change of mind does not undo a completed solicitation and is not a defense to liability for the solicitation itself.
- Proof may rest on the solicited person’s testimony and corroborating recordings showing the defendant’s request and corrupt intent.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed Gordon’s conviction because the crime of solicitation to commit bribery was complete once she offered approximately $10,000 to Officer Stanley to seize cocaine and plant it on an adversary, and her later decision to abandon the plan did not erase the already completed solicitation.


People v. Gordon, 47 Cal.App.3d 465, 120 Cal. Rptr. 840 (1975)