In this essay I will describe the elements of a criminal act, address the law of factual impossibility, the law of legal impossibility, and distinguish whether the alleged crime in the scenario is a complete attempt but imperfect or an incomplete attempt. I will address the ethical or moralistic concerns associated with allowing a criminal defendant to avoid criminal liability by successfully asserting a legal defense such as impossibility. The court clearly erred in dismissing Jack's charge of attempted murder of Bert. A crime is made up of an actus reus and a mens rea, to obtain a conviction of a criminal charge there must be concurrence between the actus reus and the mens rea. The elements of a criminal act (actus reus) are: act, cause, social damage or omission condemnable under a criminal law (Lippman, 2012). The elements of mens rea: intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, and negligently (Lippman, 2012). Attempted murder is the failed attempt to kill another human being deliberately, intentionally, or recklessly (USLegal, 2014). “Code of Georgia, Title 16, Section 16-4-1: A person commits the crime of criminal attempt when, with intent to commit a specified crime, he or she does any act which constitutes a substantial step toward the commission of that crime. Section 16-4-2: A person may be convicted of the crime of criminal attempt if the attempted crime was actually committed as a result of the attempt, but may not be convicted of both the criminal attempt and the completed crime.... " (Young, 2014, par. 1-2). Attempted murder, involved in the voluntary act of Jack pointing a gun and shooting (act) at Bert which resulted in the death (caused) of Pratt (social harm), the which demonstrates the elements of the actus reus. ... middle of paper ... Bert's attempted murder should not be dismissed could have killed Bert because his gun malfunctioned. Lippman, M. (2012) Contemporary Criminal Law Concepts, Cases and Controversies (3rd ed.). online.vitalsource.com/books/9781452277660/5/3National Paralegal College. (2014). Intent transferred. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://nationalparalegal.edu/public_documents/courseware_asp_files/torts/againstProperty/transferredIntent.aspUSLegal. (2014). Attempted murder law and legal definition. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/attempted-murder/Young, E.H. (2014). The crime of attack. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://www.georgiadefense.com/Attempt.cfm