501.08 CULPABLE MENTAL STATES.

   (a)   A person acts purposely when it is the person's specific intention to cause a certain result, or when the gist of the offense is a prohibition against conduct of a certain nature, regardless of what the offender intends to accomplish thereby, it is the offender's specific intention to engage in conduct of that nature.

   (b)   A person acts knowingly, regardless of purpose, when the person is aware that the person's conduct will probably cause a certain result or will probably be of a certain nature. A person has knowledge of circumstances when the person is aware that such circumstances probably exist.

   When knowledge of the existence of a particular fact is an element of an offense, such knowledge is established if a person subjectively believes that there is a high probability of its existence and fails to make inquiry or acts with a conscious purpose to avoid learning the fact.

   (c)   A person acts recklessly when, with heedless indifference to the consequences, the person perversely disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the person's conduct is likely to cause a certain result or is likely to be of a certain nature. A person is reckless with respect to circumstances when, with heedless indifference to the consequences, the person perversely disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such circumstances are likely to exist.

   (d)   A person acts negligently when, because of a substantial lapse from due care, the person fails to perceive or avoid a risk that the person's conduct may cause a certain result or may be of a certain nature. A person is negligent with respect to circumstances when, because of a substantial lapse from due care, the person fails to perceive or avoid a risk that such circumstances may exist.

   (e)   When the section defining an offense provides that negligence suffices to establish an element thereof, then recklessness, knowledge or purpose is also sufficient culpability for such element. When recklessness suffices to establish an element of an offense, then knowledge or purpose is also sufficient culpability for such element. When knowledge suffices to establish an element of an offense, then purpose is also sufficient culpability for such element.
(ORC 2901.22)

501.09 ATTEMPT.

   (a)   No person, purposely or knowingly, and when purpose or knowledge is sufficient culpability for the commission of an offense, shall engage in conduct that, if successful, would constitute or result in the offense.

   (b)   It is no defense to a charge under this section that, in retrospect, commission of the offense that was the object of the attempt was either factually or legally impossible under the attendant circumstances, if that offense could have been committed had the attendant circumstances been as the actor believed them to be.

   (c)   No person who is convicted of committing a specific offense or of complicity in the commission of an offense, shall be convicted of an attempt to commit the same offense in violation of this section.

   (d)   It is an affirmative defense to a charge under this section that the actor abandoned the actor’s effort to commit the offense or otherwise prevented its commission, under circumstances manifesting a complete and voluntary renunciation of the actor’s criminal purpose.

   (e)   Whoever violates this section is guilty of an attempt to commit an offense. An attempt to commit a drug abuse offense for which the penalty is determined by the amount or number of unit doses of the controlled substance involved in the drug abuse offense is an offense of the same degree as the drug abuse offense attempted would be if that drug abuse offense had been committed and had involved an amount or number of unit doses of the controlled substance that is within the next lower range of controlled substance amounts than was involved in the attempt. An attempt to commit any other misdemeanor is a misdemeanor of the next lesser degree than the misdemeanor attempted. In the case of an attempt to commit an offense other than a violation of Ohio R.C. Chapter 3734 that is not specifically classified, an attempt is a misdemeanor of the first degree if the offense attempted is a felony under the Ohio Revised Code, and a misdemeanor of the fourth degree if the offense attempted is a misdemeanor. An attempt to commit a minor misdemeanor is not an offense under this section.

   (f)   As used in this section, “drug abuse offense” has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 2925.01. (ORC 2923.02)

501.10 COMPLICITY.

   (a)   No person, acting with the kind of culpability required for the commission of an offense, shall do any of the following:

      (1)   Solicit or procure another to commit the offense;

      (2)   Aid or abet another in committing the offense;

      (3)   Cause an innocent or irresponsible person to commit the offense.

   (b)   It is no defense to a charge under this section that no person with whom the accused was in complicity has been convicted as a principal offender.

   (c)   No person shall be convicted of complicity under this section unless an offense is actually committed, but a person may be convicted of complicity in an attempt to commit an offense in violation of Section 501.09.

   (d)   If an alleged accomplice of the defendant testifies against the defendant in a case in which the defendant is charged with complicity in the commission of or an attempt to commit an offense, an attempt to commit an offense or an offense, the court when it charges the jury, shall state substantially the following:

 

"The testimony of an accomplice does not become inadmissible because of his complicity, moral turpitude or self-interest, but the admitted or claimed complicity of a witness may affect his credibility and make his testimony subject to grave suspicion, and require that it be weighed with great caution.    "It is for you, as jurors, in the light of all the facts presented to you from the witness stand, to evaluate such testimony and to determine its quality and worth or its lack of quality and worth."

   (e)   It is an affirmative defense to a charge under this section that, prior to the commission of or attempt to commit the offense, the actor terminated his complicity, under circumstances manifesting a complete and voluntary renunciation of his criminal purpose.

   (f)   Whoever violates this section is guilty of complicity in the commission of an offense, and shall be prosecuted and punished as if he were a principal offender. A charge of complicity may be stated in terms of this section, or in terms of the principal offense.

(ORC 2923.03)