Attorney Explains: Extortion and Blackmail Laws In Alabama
Blackmail and extortion laws can vary greatly from state to state. Depending on your state, getting rid of blackmailers, stopping blackmail, and stopping extortion can depend on how your individual state’s laws are written. While most jurisdictions have a blackmail or extortion statute, they vary in their application, penalties, and underlying law.
In this article, Attorney from the Anti-Extortion Law Firm explains the penalties for blackmail and extortion in the State of Alabama.
In Alabama, blackmail and extortion and prohibited under Alabama Title Code 13A. Under Alabama Code Section 13A-8-13, “[a] person commits the crime of extortion if he knowingly obtains by threat control over the property of another, with intent to deprive him of the property.” In Alabama, under some circumstances, extortion is a Class B Felony, punishable by a jail sentence of two (2) to twenty (20) years, and fines of up to $30,000.00.
Alabama courts explain that “the essence of the offense of blackmail is the threat.” Works v. State, 57 Ala. App. 373, 328 So. 2d 624 (1976).
To this point, Alabama has specifically extended extortion to areas of conduct not specifically stated in statute. If the perpetrator intends to “extort money or other property . . . then he has the requisite specific intent which results in commission of 'blackmail' should he couple [that intent] with a threat to . . . do any injury to any person or to any member of his family or to any property.” Gwynne v. State, 499 So. 2d 802, 805 (Ala. Crim. App. 1986).
Even where the extortion is impossible – factually or legally – a perpetrator of extortion in Alabama may be charged with attempted extortion.
The Alabama Criminal Appeals Court explains that “[i]n a crime of attempt "'it is no defense that the offense charged to have been attempted was, under the attendant circumstances, factually or legally impossible of commission.'" Chaney v. State, 417 So.2d 625, 627 (Ala.Cr.App. 1982).
For example, in Gwynne v. State, a defendant was convicted of attempted blackmail when the prosecution presented evidence that he called his spouse and threatened to harm their children unless he received money or participated in sexual acts. The Gwynne defendant amassed over 50-reports of making extorting telephone calls.
Although defendant argued that he never had the children such that he could harm them, the Gwynne court affirmed the defendant’s conviction for attempted extortion. Accordingly, in Alabama, it is not necessary for a blackmailer to be able to complete the threat for the crime of blackmail to be committed.
