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Name: People v. Stone
Case #: S162675
Opinion Date: 04/23/2009
Citation: 46 Cal.4th 131
Summary

An attempted murder conviction was upheld where the defendant shot into a group intending to kill a person, but not a specific person. Appellant was convicted of attempted murder for firing a single shot into a group of 10 people. The issue on review was whether the requisite intent must be to kill a particular person, or whether a generalized intent to kill someone was sufficient. The Court held that a person who intends to kill can be guilty of attempted murder even if the person has no specific target in mind. An indiscriminate would-be killer is just as culpable as one who targets a specific person. The Court remanded to the Court of Appeal to reconsider in light of this opinion.