---
title: O.C.G.A. § 16-4-4. Impossibility as a defense.
collection: code
id: 16-4-4
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 16-4-4 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-4-4
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-4-4.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-4-4/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t16-ch1-6-(v14)-2019-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=af47a366_0#page=384
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-4.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-4-3.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-4-5.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: CRIMES AND OFFENSES / CRIMINAL ATTEMPT, CONSPIRACY, AND SOLICITATION
---

# O.C.G.A. § 16-4-4. Impossibility as a defense.

It is no defense to a charge of criminal attempt that the crime the accused is charged with attempting was, under the attendant circumstances, factually or legally impossible of commission if such crime could have been committed had the attendant circumstances been as the accused believed them to be.

## History

Code 1933, § 26-1002, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1.

## Law Reviews

For article, ‘‘A Comprehensive Analysis of Georgia RICO,’’ see 9 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 537 (1993).