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1059
WHAT DOES INTENT MEAN?
David Crump *
I. I NTRODUCTION ................................................................. 1060
II. PROTOTYPICAL EXAMPLES OF I NTENT DEFINITIONS ......... 1062
A. Intent as “Purpose” ..................................................... 1062
B. Intent as Knowledge, Awareness, or the Like ............ 1063
C. Imprecise Definitions, Including Those Not
Requiring Either Purpose or Knowledge .................. 1066
D. Specific Intent: What Does It Mean?.......................... 1068
III. THE AMBIGUITY OF THE I NTENT DEFINITIONS .................. 1071
A. Proof of Intent and Its Implications for Defining
Intent: Circumstantial Evidence and the Jury ........... 1071
B. The Situations in Which Intent Is Placed in
Controversy, and the Range of Rebuttals that May
Oppose It................................................................... 1074
IV. WHICH DEFINITIONS OF INTENT SHOULD BE USED FOR
WHAT KINDS OF M ISCONDUCT ?....................................... 1078
V. CONCLUSION .................................................................... 1081
- A.B. Harvard College; J.D. University of Texas School of Law. John B. Neibel Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center.
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I. I NTRODUCTION
Imagine a case featuring a manufacturing shop boss who sent his employees into a toxic work environment. As happens at many job sites, hazardous chemicals unavoidably were nearby, and safety always was a matter of reducing their concentration. This attempted solution, however, may mean that dangerous levels of chemicals remain. But this time, the level of toxicity was far higher than usual. There is strong evidence that the shop boss knew about the danger, at least well enough to have realized that it probably had reached a deadly level, but the shop boss disputes this evidence. The employees all became ill, and one of them has died. The survivors sue in an attempt to recover damages for wrongful death. The employer’s defense, of course, is that recovery for the death of an employee covered by worker’s compensation is limited to a relatively low insured amount: a defined benefit level under a worker’s compensation statute, which is a mere fraction of tort recovery.^1 The good news for the workers is that there is one potentially applicable exception to this defense. Specifically, the worker’s compensation defense is not available if the employer caused the injury “intentionally”^2 —whatever that means. 3 Therefore, if the survivors can prove intent, they can recover in tort, and they can hope to receive a judgment for a much larger amount, possibly many millions of dollars more. Naturally, the shop boss vehemently denies that he intended to kill anyone:
It was not my desire to cause this man’s death. Maybe it wasn’t a wise decision that I made, to send these guys in there, but my purpose was to complete the task, not to hurt anyone. I was taking serious pain medicine at the time, and I just couldn’t think straight, anyway. Besides, I had to follow company policy, and that meant finishing the job. The place had been cleaned out just a few days before. I didn’t know that anything like this would happen. I didn’t intend to hurt anyone.^4
- See, e.g. , OHIO R EV. C ODE ANN. § 4123.74 (West 2007) (establishing exclusive remedy as insurance claim).
- See, e.g. , Blankenship v. Cincinnati Milacron Chem., Inc., 433 N.E.2d 572, 576 (Ohio
- (establishing this exception by court decree).
- The problem, and the point of this Article, is that the meaning of intent is shifting and complex. See, e.g. , Ulrick v. Kunz, 349 F. App’x 99, 101 n.3 (6th Cir. 2009) (recounting history of three attempts by Ohio legislature to refine the test for intent and Ohio courts’ responses); Fyffe v. Jeno’s, Inc., 570 N.E.2d 1108, 1112 (Ohio 1991) (establishing a three-pronged test for intent).
- Each of these is a time-honored response to an allegation of intent, and each can be
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conclusions, which include the suggestion that different meanings of intent may be useful to cover different situations, but that each meaning should be tied to the situations in which it should be invoked.
II. P ROTOTYPICAL E XAMPLES OF I NTENT DEFINITIONS
A. Intent as Purpose
Offhand, one might think that “intent” and “purpose” might be close in meaning or even synonymous. But the difference between the two can be significant. Defining intent in terms of purpose narrows the definition so that it becomes an awkward fit with some kinds of situations. 15 On the other hand, there are times when a definition of intent in terms of purpose is appropriate. 16 Jurisdictions that follow the Model Penal Code (“MPC”) have a formal definition of intent that makes its meaning close to that of purpose. In fact, the MPC calls this state of mind “purpose,” 17 although it may be better to retain the more ordinary word “intent,” as some jurisdictions that follow the MPC do.^18 In MPC jurisdictions, the definition of intent requires proof that it was the actor’s “conscious... desire” to engage in the questioned conduct or to cause the relevant result. 19 “Conscious desire” creates a particularly narrow definition of intent. To see how narrow, imagine a defendant who says, “Yes, I killed this man, but I didn’t really intend to. I knew that what I did was going to result in his death, but I just didn’t care whether he died or not.” Technically, this state of mind is not sufficient for a finding of MPC-type intent. Surprisingly, the actor’s indifference means that the “conscious desire” that is the essence of this state of mind is missing.^20 Although this kind of “I didn’t care” testimony is not likely to impress a jury, a finding of absence of intent would be required by the literal language of the definition if the jury believed (or even reasonably doubted) the actor’s statements. The real point here is that it is easy to
- See infra notes 17-26 and accompanying text.
- See infra notes 125-29 and accompanying text.
- See MODEL P ENAL C ODE § 2.02(2)(a) (Proposed Official Draft 1962) (defining “purposely” as a level of culpability).
- For example, the Texas Penal Code contains a definition virtually identical to that of “purpose” in the MPC, but it labels the mental state as intent. See, e.g. , TEX. P ENAL C ODE ANN. § 6.03(a) (West 2003) (“A person acts intentionally... with respect to the nature of his conduct... when it is his conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct... .”).
- See, e.g. , id.
- See MODEL P ENAL C ODE § 2.02(a)(i) (stating that a person acts purposely with regard to the element of an offense when it is their “conscious object” to engage in the required conduct).
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find situations in which the jury is likely to follow testimony that requires a finding of non-intent, when the “conscious desire” formula is the controlling law.^21 Instead, the “I didn’t care” killing fits the definition of “knowledge,” not “intent.” Knowledge under jurisdictions influenced by the MPC is defined as a mental state in which the actor is “aware” or “practically certain” that he is engaging in the questioned conduct or will cause the relevant result. 22 This definition creates a much broader range of qualifying mental states than the “conscious desire” formula does for intent.^23 Actually, the MPC defines the crime of murder so that either intent or purpose will suffice as the guilty mental state. 24 If it did not include knowledge, the MPC would create an odd result: killings committed with complete indifference to the fate of the victim could not be murders. 25 This feature of the MPC does not mean, however, that there are not situations in which its narrow definition of intent causes serious problems. 26
B. Intent as Knowledge, Awareness, or the Like
The Restatement (Third) of Torts features what it calls a “dual definition” of intent.^27 One prong of the definition depends upon purpose. It applies if the actor “acts with the purpose of producing [the] consequence” in question.^28 This formula resembles the definition of intent in the MPC, and it sets out a narrow view of the concept. 29 The
- See infra Part III.B (discussing various possible rebuttals to a claim of intent).
- MODEL P ENAL C ODE § 2.02(2)(b).
- Compare id. (defining the mental state of “knowledge”), with TEX. P ENAL C ODE ANN. § 6.03(a) (defining the mental state of intent).
- See MODEL P ENAL C ODE § 210.2(1) (defining murder in terms of “knowingly” or “purposely,” and also in terms of extreme recklessness).
- See id. ; see also supra notes 17-21 and accompanying text (discussing how murders committed with complete indifference are murders committed without “conscious desire,” and therefore fall outside the definition of intent when its definition is closely related to the meaning of “purpose”).
- See, e.g. , MODEL P ENAL C ODE § 210.5 (causing or aiding suicide can only be committed with intent, which is defined as “purposely”). Under this section, an actor who knows that he is doing the act, but just doesn’t care, must be exonerated. See MODEL P ENAL C ODE & C OMMENTARIES § 210.5 cmt. 5 (Official Draft and Revised Comments 1980) (“Thus, casual conduct not seriously intended to aid or persuade another to take his own life may not be punished under this subsection, no matter how plain it seems in retrospect that the actor’s behavior contributed to a suicide.”); see also infra notes 117-21 and accompanying text (using the example of Dr. Kevorkian as an example of how this issue led to strange results).
- 1 R ESTATEMENT (THIRD ) OF TORTS: LIAB. FOR P HYSICAL & EMOTIONAL HARM § 1 cmt. a (2005).
- See id. § 1(a).
- See id. § 1 cmt. a (stating that its definition of intent can be “compared and contrasted to
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speed chase of an alleged criminal, knowing, of course, that the nature of the chase creates a danger of injury to others:
[ An example in which knowledge does not create intent :] Steve is well aware there is a significant likelihood that someone will suffer physical harm, either personal injury or at least property damage, in the course of the chase. In fact, the escaping car strikes the car owned by Ruth, which she is driving carefully on the highway. Steve... has not intentionally harmed Ruth or her car. Steve did not harbor a purpose that Ruth (or anyone else) suffer any harm; while Steve knew there was a significant likelihood of such harm, the harm was not substantially certain to occur.^37
Even if harm is “substantially certain” to occur, intent may be absent if the actor is unaware beforehand of this certain harm, and the Restatement contains an example to illustrate this point, too.^38 However, the most difficult problem lies not in these examples, but elsewhere. There are many socially desirable activities that inevitably cause small numbers of injuries. 39 The actors in these activities therefore are “substantially certain” that injury will occur to some unknown individuals at some time, but obviously, the law should not criminalize industrial accidents with a broad brush. 40 To solve this problem, the Restatement commentary suggests a limit that unfortunately is not part of the Restatement text. The harmful consequences, it says, should be of a type that affects one identifiable person, or a small class of persons: “The applications of the substantial-certainty test should be limited to situations in which the defendant has knowledge to a substantial certainty that the conduct will bring about harm to a particular victim, or to someone within a small class of potential victims within a localized area.” 41 The commentary offers several examples:
- Id. § 1 cmt. c, illus. 4.
- See id. § 1 cmt. c, illus. 5 (“Joanne, a physician, provides medication to her patient, Mark. Because Joanne has confused one medication with another, the medication she gives Mark is certain to cause harm to Mark. Such harm ensues. Joanne has not intentionally harmed Mark. While Joanne’s conduct was substantially certain to cause him harm, Joanne lacked the knowledge that this would happen.”).
- See id. § 1 cmt. b (“[P]eople all the time voluntarily engage in conduct—swinging a golf club, raising a stick so as to separate two dogs, turning a steering wheel in order to turn a car on a highway, selling a product, transmitting electricity through power lines—that turns out to result in harm.”).
- See id. § 1 cmt. e (asserting that the substantial certainty test should not be applied in situations where strict liability could be imposed despite a total lack of negligence on the part of the defendant).
- Id.
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[A]n owner of land, arranging for the construction of a high-rise building, can confidently predict that some number of workers will be seriously injured in the course of the construction project; the company that runs a railroad can be sure that railroad operations will over time result in a significant number of serious personal injuries; the manufacturer of knives can easily predict that a certain number of persons using its knives will inadvertently cut themselves. Despite their knowledge, these actors do not intentionally cause the injuries that result. 42 It would have been better if this important qualification had been made part of the actual Restatement text. But there is a greater problem still. What size class qualifies as “small”? One might reconsider the example at the beginning of this Article, about the shop boss who sends his employees into a dangerous, toxic environment. Are the employees in the shop a “small” enough class? Perhaps if they are two or three, the principle makes sense. On the other hand, imagine that there are many thousands of employees who visit the toxic environment over a long period of time because the organization is large and injuries from exposure are delayed. This group may not be a “small” class. But the shop boss’s mental state is the same. It seems ironic that the Restatement’s principle finds intent where only a few are injured, but refuses to find it with equally blameworthy mental states when there are many injured people.
C. Imprecise Definitions, Including Those Not Requiring Either Purpose or Knowledge
Unfortunately, federal law features imprecise definitions of intent and, indeed contradictory definitions. The Supreme Court has pointedly stated that the term intent is “ambiguous.”^43 For example, in Schiro v. Farley , 44 the Supreme Court held that a criminal intent to kill could be supplied by knowledge of the circumstances, and it did not require purposefulness on the part of the defendant. 45 In Posters ‘N’ Things, Ltd. v. United States , 46 a civil case, the Court likewise held that purposefulness was not required for intent, and further held that knowledge of probable results is enough.^47 A requirement of only “probable” results contrasts sharply with the Restatement definition,
- Id.
- Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 838 (1994).
- 510 U.S. 222 (1994).
- See id. at 234-35.
- 511 U.S. 513 (1994).
- See id. at 523-24.
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unspecified circumstances, intent may be defined in objective terms.^58 In other words, although the possibility is raised by no more than a suggestion, it may be that in some situations, neither knowledge nor purpose nor even awareness of probability is necessary to prove intent, and that intent can be made out by blameworthy circumstances without any subjective mens rea at all.^59 It is one thing to say that some crimes (or torts) can be committed by a lesser mens rea than purpose or knowledge. Some crimes and torts require only recklessness or negligence, and there are crimes and torts of strict liability, of course. 60 It is another thing, and surprising, to see a suggested treatment of intent that dispenses with purpose and knowledge and substitutes only an objective kind of blameworthiness.
D. Specific Intent: What Does It Mean?
Then, there is the conundrum posed by the concept of “specific” intent. Some crimes are said to be specific intent crimes, while others are crimes of general intent.^61 The term ultimately is illogical to the extent that it seems to imply a particularized kind of intent, because the intent that makes out specific intent is not really different from intent as it might be defined by the particular jurisdiction for non-specific intent.^62 What specific intent really means is that the actor has intent to commit (or knowledge that he is committing) all of the elements of the crime or tort at issue. 63 Black’s Law Dictionary probably provides the most serviceable definition by saying that specific intent is “[t]he intent to accomplish the precise criminal act that one is... charged with.”^64
- See id.
- See id. at 836; see, e.g. , United States v. Lavallie, 666 F.2d 1217, 1219 (8th Cir. 1981) (“Rape is a crime requiring general intent—only that indicated by the commission of the offense.” (citing United States v. Thornton, 498 F.2d 749, 752-53 (D.C. Cir. 1974))). The Thornton court noted that “[s]ome criminal offenses require only a general intent. Where this is so, and it is shown that a person has knowingly committed an act which the law makes a crime, intent may be inferred from the doing of the act.” Thornton , 498 F.2d at 751 (citation omitted).
- See MODEL P ENAL C ODE §§ 210.3(1)(a), 210.4(1) (Proposed Official Draft 1962) (defining manslaughter, which can be committed recklessly, and negligent homicide); see also id. § 2.05(2)(a) (allowing for crimes that do not require mental elements, i.e., strict liability crimes).
- See DAVID C RUMP ET AL., C RIMINAL LAW: C ASES, S TATUTES, AND L AWYERING S TRATEGIES 176-78 (2d ed. 2010) (discussing the difference between general and specific intent crimes).
- See J EROME H ALL , GENERAL P RINCIPLES OF C RIMINAL LAW 142 (2d ed. 1960) (“[A]n essential characteristic of [intent] is that it is directed towards a definite end. To assert therefore that an intention is ‘specific’ is to employ a superfluous term... .”).
- See infra notes 65-70 and accompanying text.
- B LACK ’S LAW DICTIONARY 826 (8th ed. 2004).
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As we shall see momentarily, this definition merely means that the mens rea must extend to all elements of the crime or tort. The Supreme Court illustrated this point in Clark v. Arizona ,^65 by treating “specific intent” to kill a law enforcement officer as synonymous with killing a law enforcement officer while having “knowledge that he was doing so,” meaning knowledge that the victim was a law enforcement officer, as opposed to intent to kill a person who happened to be a law enforcement officer without knowing that the person was a law enforcement officer. 66 Without the knowledge that the assaultee was an officer, the crime would have been of a lower degree. 67 In federal criminal law, assaulting a federal officer is usually viewed as a general intent crime. 68 But some courts have held that assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon is a specific intent crime. 69 This is an issue that arises most frequently when the officer is undercover. 70 Consider the following two hypothetical situations, which may produce different outcomes, for the enhanced offense of assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon, if specific intent is required.
Case No. 1: No Specific Intent. Dan Defendant uses a deadly weapon to assault a plainclothes individual named I.B. Kopp. Mr. Kopp is in fact an undercover federal officer working for the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”). Dan has no reason to know that Kopp is a DEA agent. He thinks Kopp is a co- conspirator, which is what Kopp is pretending to be. Dan uses a firearm, a deadly weapon, to assault Kopp for an independent reason, such as that he believes Kopp is cheating at cards. In
- 548 U.S. 735 (2006).
- Id. at 743.
- See id. at 743 n.1 (“‘[A] person commits first degree murder if... [i]ntending or knowing that the person’s conduct will cause death to a law enforcement officer, the person causes the death of a law enforcement officer who is in the line of duty.’” (quoting ARIZ. R EV. S TAT. A NN. § 13- 1105(A)(3) (2005))).
- See United States v. Feola, 420 U.S. 671, 684, 686 (1975) (holding that criminal liability will attach so long as there is a finding of “intent to assault”; “intent to assault a federal officer” is not required). The qualification “usually” is required because some courts have interpreted (or misinterpreted) Feola as requiring specific intent. See, e.g. , United States v. Manelli, 667 F.2d 695, 696 (8th Cir. 1981) (“Specific intent is an essential element of the crime of assaulting a federal officer in the performance of his duties.” (citing Feola , 420 U.S. at 686)).
- See Manelli , 667 F.2d at 696 (“The district court properly instructed the jury that the government was required ‘to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that [Manelli] aimed his automobile at FBI Agent Meyer, with the specific intent to use the vehicle as a deadly weapon.’” (alteration in original) (citation omitted)). Other courts, even in the same circuit, have held the opposite. See United States v. Oakie, 12 F.3d 1436, 1443 (8th Cir. 1993) (explaining that conflicting decisions exist as to whether specific intent is required).
- See, e.g. , United States v. Alvarez, 755 F.2d 830, 836, 842-44 (11th Cir. 1985) (holding that a finding of specific intent is not necessary to convict defendant of assaulting an undercover federal officer with a deadly weapon).
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assault, 76 just as assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon does.^77 The relevant difference, in some jurisdictions, is not the type of intent but the extension of mens rea requirements to the other elements of assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon.^78 Thus, “[t]he ‘general intent’ designation... does not define a particular mens rea ; it merely clarifies that the crime does not require ‘specific intent.’” 79 “‘It remains to define what that intent is.’”^80 In other settings, such as murder, the statement that the crime is a general intent crime is doubly confusing, because it may be used to mean that the mens rea for murder can be less than intent.^81 In summary, specific intent and general intent are terms of obfuscation, although lawyers must be able to deal with them because the courts, unfortunately, use them.
III. T HE AMBIGUITY OF THE I NTENT DEFINITIONS
A. Proof of Intent and Its Implications for Defining Intent: Circumstantial Evidence and the Jury
Aside from the problem of confusion, why does it matter how we define intent? The answer begins with the proposition that intent, of course, cannot be seen directly by witnesses. 82 It eludes all five senses. It is known only to the actor, and even here, only sometimes, because some definitions of intent allow the actor to readily believe that there is no intent, even when there is. 83 There really are only two ways of proving intent: by an admission of the actor whose intent is in question (one that is admissible in evidence), or by circumstantial evidence.^84 As
- See United States v. Feola, 420 U.S. 671, 684 (1975) (“All the statute requires is an intent to assault... .”).
- See United States v. Staggs, 553 F.2d 1073, 1074, 1076 (7th Cir. 1977) (holding that “specific intent to commit assault is a prerequisite to conviction” for assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon).
- See United States v. Jim, 865 F.2d 211, 212-13 (9th Cir. 1989).
- United States v. Grajeda, 581 F.3d 1186, 1193 (9th Cir. 2009) (citing People v. Rocha, 479 P.2d 372, 376 (Cal. 1971)).
- See id. at 1193 (quoting Rocha , 479 P.2d at 376).
- See, e.g. , United States v. Brown, 287 F.3d 965, 974 (10th Cir. 2002) (stating that second- degree murder is a general intent crime that can be proved by recklessness, which requires a lesser degree of culpability than “intent”).
- See Commonwealth v. Pond, 846 A.2d 699, 707 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2004) (“‘Often, intent cannot be proven directly but must be inferred from examination of the facts and circumstances of the case.’” (quoting Commonwealth v. Willetts, 419 A.2d 1280, 1281 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1980))).
- See, e.g. , 1 R ESTATEMENT (THIRD ) OF TORTS: LIAB. FOR P HYSICAL & EMOTIONAL HARM § 1 cmt. c, illus. 3 (2005) (using the “Jones Company” illustration to demonstrate this point).
- See Long v. State, 867 N.E.2d 606, 614 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007) (stating that intent is a “mental function,” which “may be proven by circumstantial evidence” in the absence of a
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the Supreme Court put it in Devenpeck v. Alford , 85 “intent is always determined by objective means.” 86 The corollary is “the oldest rule of evidence[, which is] that a man is presumed to intend the natural and probable consequences of his acts.” 87 In other words, the law evaluates intent by what the actor does, which means that the law evaluates intent by circumstantial evidence. At the same time, intent is easily denied or rebutted, even when it exists, and sometimes the denial is accompanied by convincing belief on the part of the actor. 88 Circumstantial evidence is inherently ambiguous, and the denial may make it more so.^89 It is in this situation that the precise meaning of intent matters most. This is true unless the actor confesses. But often, the precipitating event for a confession is the actor’s realization that the circumstantial evidence, when compared with the definition of intent, is very strong.^90 In other words, absent an epiphany on the part of the actor, the interface between circumstantial evidence and the definition of intent is always critical. For example, imagine a case in which a conscious desire to cause harm on the part of the actor is missing, but the actor knows that the harm is probable. This description may fit the hypothetical case that began this Article, in which the shop boss sends workers into a toxic environment with awareness that harm is “probable,” though he does not desire that harm, and in fact regrets it. The necessary result may be unexpected to the casual observer. In a criminal case, a reasonable doubt is enough to acquit.^91 If the evidence strongly suggests that the shop boss knew, but not convincingly, it might appear at first blush that intent would be present. But it is not. The “purpose” type of intent is missing,
confession).
- 543 U.S. 146 (2004).
- Id. at 154.
- Giles v. California, 128 S. Ct. 2678, 2698 (2008) (Breyer, J., dissenting) (quoting United States v. Falstaff Brewing Corp., 410 U.S. 526, 570 (1973)).
- See, e.g. , General Mills, Inc. v. Kellogg Co., 824 F.2d 622, 624, 627 (8th Cir. 1987) (upholding the district court’s ruling that General Mills had successfully rebutted intent to infringe on Kellogg’s trademark).
- See, e.g. , Williamson Oil Co. v. Philip Morris U.S.A., 346 F.3d 1287, 1300 (11th Cir.
- (“The problem with... reliance on circumstantial evidence [in price fixing cases] is that such evidence is by its nature ambiguous, and necessarily requires the drawing of one or more inferences in order to substantiate claims of illegal conspiracy.”).
- See Saul M. Kassin & Gisli H. Gudjonsson, True Crimes, False Confessions , S CI. AM. MIND , June 2005, at 24, 29, available at http://www.martytankleff.org/PDF/TrueCrimesFalse Confessions.pdf (“Although most suspects confess for a combination of reasons, the most critical is their belief about the strength of the evidence against them.”).
- See Victor v. Nebraska, 511 U.S 1, 5 (1994) (“The government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt every element of a charged offense.” (citing In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 361 (1970))).
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considered with precision, but more than that: It needs to take account of the way in which adversaries may push the definition into shapes that would not have been what lawmakers wanted if they had seen how their words might be interpreted. It can be anticipated, for example, that the two lawyers in the toxic environment case that began this Article would each try to nudge the jury to accept opposing word-pictures that made it more likely for the jury to view intent as the opposite states of mind required for them, respectively, to win. And the definition of intent needs to take into account that it is the understanding of intent by lay jurors that matters, not the understanding of the lawyers who wrote the law. 99 In front of a jury, part of a lawyer’s job is to take advantage of ambiguity by interpreting the definition so that the jury’s understanding of intent fits the client’s interests, even if the interpretation is far from the expectations of lawgivers. 100 Lay jurors, in turn, cannot be expected to know what lawmakers had in mind when they used the word intent, and it makes sense for jurors sometimes to listen, and adopt, meanings of a word that were never contemplated.
B. The Situations in Which Intent Is Placed in Controversy, and the Range of Rebuttals that May Oppose It
As the example that opened this Article shows, a claim involving intent may be answered in any one of several ways. In fact, it may be answered by a blizzard of denials that internally reinforce each other. In front of a jury, with a poorly calibrated (or no) definition of intent, these rebuttals may have success in varying degrees, even when they should not, according to the understanding of the law by the courts. There is an infinite variety of denials that actors may offer, of course, but they tend to run in patterns. Some may be legitimate interpretations of the word, while some usually are not. But again, this aspect of denials does not always determine their success. With no claim of completeness, I offer the following catalogue of rebuttals of intent. The Involuntary Act Rebuttal. “The gun went off without my having pulled the trigger.”^101 “I was forced to do it by company
- Cf. Matarese v. Buka, 897 N.E.2d 893, 897 (Ill. App. Ct. 2008) (pointing out that pattern jury instruction was improved to make it “more understandable to a jury”).
- See Slawson, supra note 97, at 343, 345 (stating that students are taught to “read... adversarially” so that they can learn to take advantage of ambiguities in the law on behalf of future clients).
- See, e.g. , People v. Jackson, No. D053958, 2009 WL 3823950, at *1-3 (Cal. Ct. App. Nov. 17, 2009) (defendant claimed that “the gun went off accidentally” but was not believed and was convicted of murder). A Westlaw search of “‘the gun went off’” performed on Sept. 25, 2010 in the “ALLCASES” database produced 4836 documents, indicating that this rebuttal of intent is a
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policy.”^102 This rebuttal takes the form of a claim that someone else, or some force of nature, was the true agency that caused the event.^103 Sometimes, the claim is not credible, as is usually the case when there is a claim of a spontaneously-shooting firearm. 104 Sometimes, the rebuttal is credible, but furnishes a dubious argument for exoneration, as with the company policy defense. Sometimes, it is credible and leads to exoneration.^105 And sometimes it is hard to sort it all out. The case that begins this Article furnishes a knotty problem here. Notice that the shop boss who sent workers into the toxic environment rebutted intent, partly, on the ground that “company policy” required him to proceed with the task. On the one hand, this claim probably is largely irrelevant, even if it is true. Company policy is not a general defense to homicide. On the other hand, a jury may credit it—and may give significance to it. Jurors are not given instructions so case specific that they eliminate company policy from consideration.^106 There will be jurors, probably influential ones, who have had to deal with dysfunctional company policy. Jurors may even reason, with a certain logic, that following company policy is one indication that the actor did not see ensuing harm as substantially certain, and thus, as a rebuttal of intent. If no definition of intent is given, as it is not in some jurisdictions, 107 the problem of jury misunderstanding is exacerbated. In this toxic environment case, it is important for intent to be defined in a careful way. Perhaps the Restatement definition^108 is the best that can be conveyed meaningfully, given that the only engineering we have to get across the concepts is words. It should be recognized, however, that before a jury, intent may take on a meaning that none of the lawmakers ever wanted.
frequent one.
- See, e.g. , Burke v. Lab. Corp. of Am., No. 8:08ocvo2072oTo24oTGW, 2009 WL 3242014, at *1 (M.D. Fla. Oct. 6, 2009) (explaining that defendant waited until the plaintiff had returned from sick leave to fire her because of company policy requirements). A Westlaw search of “‘forced required’ /s ‘company policy’” performed on Sept. 25, 2010 in the “ALLCASES” database produced 1742 documents.
- See, e.g. , Burke , 2009 WL 3242014, at *1; Jackson , 2009 WL 3823950, at *1.
- See Jackson , 2009 WL 3823950, at *3.
- See, e.g. , Ferriolo v. City of New York, 888 N.Y.S.2d 400, 400 (App. Div. 2009) (gun went off accidentally while being transferred from one place to another; transferor not charged).
- See, e.g. , F LA. S UPREME C OURT , S TANDARD J URY INSTRUCTIONS—C IVIL C ASES § 414.5, http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/civ_jury_instructions/2010/400/414(5).rtf. (model jury instruction for issues on claim in worker’s compensation cases, which contains no reference to company policy).
- See supra notes 9-10 and accompanying text.
- See supra Part II.B.
2010] WHAT DOES INTENT MEAN? 1077
This claim, like the others, may be true or untrue. If it is true—or if a jury has a reasonable doubt about it—it successfully rebuts intent. Notice that in the toxic environment case, the shop boss claims that “[t]he place had been cleaned out just a few days before.”^115 He believed that its having been scrubbed recently meant that the danger did not exist, or so he wants the jury to believe. As in the case of a denial that the actor was aware of a substantial certainty of harm, this denial of awareness that the harm was even possible exonerates the actor, if it is true—or rather, in the real world, it exonerates him if a jury has enough doubt about its truth. A Claim of Intent Only to Obtain Result X, but Not to Obtain Result Y, Even Though Result Y Was the Mechanism for Achieving Result X. When it is stated in this way, this rebuttal sounds ridiculous. It usually is not stated in a way that makes it quite so baldly illogical. “I meant to stab him to [allegedly] defend myself, but I didn’t mean to hurt him.” A rebuttal virtually identical to this one appears in at least one appellate opinion,^116 and it undoubtedly has been used in too many other cases to count. A similar theory of rebuttal, in a quite different situation, appeared in one of the high-profile prosecutions of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the so- called “Doctor Death.”^117 Dr. Kevorkian designed a “suicide machine,” which could dispense a sequential cocktail of lethal substances into a suffering patient.^118 His defense to an aiding suicide prosecution included the claim that he did not intend to help cause his patients’ death; he intended only “to end their pain.”^119 Since the mechanism for ending the pain was to cause death, the denial of intent ultimately was unsuccessful, but it worked in some early cases. 120 In fact, it seems to have fooled television correspondents who reported on the Kevorkian story.^121
search of “‘defendant’ /s ‘no bullet’” performed on Sept. 25, 2010 in the “ALLCASES” database produced 189 documents, although many were not analogous to the example.
- See supra note 4 and accompanying text.
- See Martinez v. State, 16 S.W.3d 845, 847-48 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000).
- See People v. Kevorkian, 639 N.W.2d 291, 300 (Mich. Ct. App. 2001).
- See People v. Kevorkian, 527 N.W.2d 714, 733 (Mich. 1994) (describing Kevorkian’s “suicide machine” in detail).
- See Frontline: The Kevorkian Verdict (PBS television broadcast May 14, 1996), http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/kevorkianscript.html.
- Id.
- The Frontline narrator said, “Was [Kevorkian] guilty because he intended to help his patients commit suicide? Or was he not guilty because he only intended to end their pain and suffering?” Id. Kevorkian intended, actually, to do both: to do the former as a means of doing the latter. See Kevorkian , 639 N.W.2d at 296, 300.
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And this “not-X-but-Y-even-though-Y-requires-X” rebuttal also appears in the hypothetical case of the shop boss who sent workers into the toxic environment. The shop boss claims that his “purpose was to complete the task, not to hurt anyone.”^122 If this claim is believed, it may rebut intent of the “purpose” type. The shop boss’s argument is that he did not want to injure anyone. In fact, he may have regretted the fact that any harm occurred and thus, he lacks intent if intent is defined as “purpose.” This meaning of intent allows the shop boss to state his rebuttal vehemently, with heartfelt conviction; he knows that he did not want any harm to occur, and that is what he believes intent means. But if intent is defined to include substantial certainty, the result may be different. By hypothesis, there is evidence that the shop boss knew of the danger. 123 Everything ultimately depends, however, upon the jury’s ability to combine several kinds of inquiry. The jurors must first decide whether the shop boss knew of probable danger. Then, they must assess just how strong that danger was, and how well the boss knew of the danger. Finally, the jurors must keep straight in their minds the two different kinds of intent. They must perceive that the shop boss’s denial of intent, though strongly stated, rebuts only the “purpose” type of intent. They must retain awareness that intent can also be supplied by substantial certainty under the Restatement, if that applies under the court’s instructions. As silly as the “X-and-Y” rebuttal seems at first blush, it may not be easy for jurors to follow all of these steps. The Restatement commentary contains simple examples to illustrate its principles, 124 and if these are needed for licensed lawyers to be able to follow the ideas reliably, one can expect that the task would be harder for lay jurors.
IV. W HICH DEFINITIONS OF I NTENT SHOULD BE USED FOR W HAT KINDS OF M ISCONDUCT?
There are circumstances in which it makes sense to define the meaning of intent narrowly. In those situations, the appropriate definition will require purpose, or a “conscious object” to engage in the conduct or cause the result.^125 Several factors might contribute to a decision to adopt this narrower definition. The availability of proof of this kind of intent is one factor. Thus, it may make sense to use a
- See supra note 4 and accompanying text.
- See supra Part I.
- See 1 R ESTATEMENT (T HIRD ) OF TORTS: LIAB. FOR P HYSICAL & EMOTIONAL HARM § 1, illus. 1–5 (2005).
- MODEL P ENAL C ODE § 2.02(2)(a) (Proposed Official Draft 1962).
