Criminal
Oct. 25, 2014
Pre-crime prosecutions remain a threat
Prosecutions relying on assumptions regarding what a person will decide and how they will act threaten pre-crime conviction and punishment.
Consider a woman apprehended in her apartment with five counterfeit $100 bills. She is charged with violation of Penal Code Section 476, which includes possession of fake money. An essential element of the crime is the specific intent to pass the fictitious bills, i.e., intent to defraud. At trial, the defense attorney concedes the client possessed the forged bills, but contends there is no evidence to establish she actually intended to pass them. In rebuttal, the prosecutor ridicules the ...
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