[RipSawyer]

"Merely sitting in a car while someone breaks the law without your prior knowledge is not conspiracy."


True, so very true, but when you are dragged into court, how are you going to prove the negative? Your honor, my client had no knowledge of what was going on while he was in the car. Yeah, sure!

[Restorer]

when you are dragged into court, how are you going to prove the negative?

Your only defense will be your character and reputation. Which has to be good enough to cause the jury to see reasonable doubt that you were a conspirator. Which means that if you hang out with thieves and drug dealers, they probably won't see reasonable doubt.

The stupid thing about this article is that it implies that the conspiracy laws are some new federal invention. In truth, they go back many centuries into the old common law.