Criminal Law Keyed to Dressler
State v. Reeves
ProfessorScott Caron
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
Two twelve-year-old girls, Tracie Reeves (Reeves) and Molly Coffman (Coffman) agreed to kill their homeroom teacher, Janice Geiger (Geiger), with rat poison. The girls further agreed that they would steal Geiger’s car and drive to the Smoky Mountains. They tried to enlist the help of Dean Foutch, a high school student, to drive the car, but he refused after hearing the plot. On the date the girls planned to murder Geiger, Coffman carried a packet of rat poison to school in her purse. During the bus ride to school, Coffman informed Christy Hernandez (Hernandez), another student, of the plan and showed her the rat poison. Hernandez then told her homeroom teacher, Sherry Cockrill (Cockrill), of the plot, and Cockrill in turn told the principal, Claudia Argo (Argo). Geiger noticed the two girls leaning over her desk when she entered the room. The girls noticed Geiger, giggled, and ran back to their seats, leaving a purse next to Geiger’s coffee cup. Thereafter, Argo requested that Coffman come to the principal’s office and the rat poison was found in her purse.
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