## Facts

- Captain Ailor of the Lewiston Police Department investigated Ralph Otto in connection with Otto’s wife’s disappearance.
- Otto told a saloon owner he wanted to find a “hit man” to kill Captain Ailor because Ailor was “harassing” him.
- Police arranged for an officer to contact Otto while posing as a “hit man”; Otto negotiated a price and agreed to pay $1,000.
- An undercover officer later met Otto wearing a recording device and agreed to kill Ailor for $250 upfront and $750 after the killing.
- Otto placed the $250 deposit in a cup in the undercover officer’s pickup as arranged.
- Otto was arrested the next day and charged with attempted first-degree murder under Idaho law.

## Issues

1. Whether negotiating with an undercover “hit man” and paying a $250 deposit constituted an attempt to commit first-degree murder, rather than mere solicitation or preparation.
2. What line separates solicitation/preparation from attempt under Idaho law and generally accepted criminal-law principles.

## Decision

- The Idaho Supreme Court reversed the conviction for attempted first-degree murder.
- The court held Otto’s conduct did not go beyond solicitation and preparatory arrangements.
- The case was remanded consistent with the conclusion that Otto’s acts supported solicitation-type liability, not attempt.

## Legal Principles

- Attempt requires conduct that goes beyond preparation and begins the perpetration of the offense.
- Solicitation, standing alone, is generally treated as preparation and is not an attempt.
- Conduct must reach a point sufficiently close to completion (often described as “dangerous proximity” to the offense) to qualify as an attempt.
- Agreeing on a price and making a partial payment to a supposed killer, without steps toward carrying out the killing, remains preparation rather than attempted murder.

## Conclusion

The court held that Otto’s negotiations and payment to an undercover officer posing as a “hit man” were criminal but did not constitute attempted first-degree murder because they did not cross the line from solicitation and preparation to acts constituting the beginning of the murder’s direct execution.


State v. Otto, 629 P.2d 646 (Idaho 1981)