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This may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, if it does, I guess the most relevant jurisdiction I'd be interested in would be Indiana in the US.

If a defendant is arguing "mistake of fact," but the reason they made the mistake was, they were intoxicated, does that weaken their defense? Or even make it completely void?

If the defendant doesn't agree that intoxication was the reason for the mistake, can the prosecution still weaken the defense by putting forth an argument that intoxication was the reason for the mistake?

If this is too abstract, you can imagine a case in which a defendent took a laptop from a table in a restaurant, which he believed was his laptop resting on the table he'd been sitting at, when in fact it was someone else's laptop at someone else's table. Also, he was intoxicated at the time. He tosses the laptop into his car, and walks away to another location, where he is then arrested for theft and public intoxication. This is all made up, I'm just trying to illustrate what kind of case I have in mind.

FD_bfa
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user3752935
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1 Answers1

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It depends on the offence

Some crimes require specific intent to commit to the act. If the individual commits a crime due to a mistake of fact, as in your scenario, then they have not met the intention requirement of that offence. The fact that they are intoxicated is reckless, but if they made a mistake then they aren't intending to commit the crime.

Other crimes only require basic intent to commit the act. This means that if the crime was committed as a result of the defendant being reckless, they are still liable for the offence. It doesn't matter that they had no intention. In the context of your question, drinking too much alcohol is reckless and so will not allow for a defence on the grounds of a mistake for these crimes.

There are some exceptions to this rule. For example, s5(2)(a) of the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows for mistake as a defence despite this being a crime of basic intent.

FD_bfa
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