Also known as: defense of excuse · excuse defenses · excuses · excuse defense
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A category of legal defenses that admit the commission of the act or breach but assert that circumstances render the actor blameless by negating culpability or excusing performance.
Dominic Drake served interrogatories on Dover Bank seeking loan records. The bank missed the thirty-day deadline and later filed generalized objections claiming privilege. The court treated the objections as waived because the bank failed to state specific grounds timely and offered no good cause for the delay.
Diane Dawson shot Devon Drake during a robbery. No doctrine excused the killing or reduced it to manslaughter. The prosecution proved Dawson acted with intent to kill, establishing malice aforethought and supporting a murder conviction.
Dylan Duffy sought to introduce a witness statement under the residual exception. He gave written notice of the statement and declarant only two days before trial. The court excused the delay for good cause after finding the opponent had a fair opportunity to prepare.
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Daphne Doyle raised a mental-illness claim after killing her partner. Expert testimony on PTSD was offered to show lack of intent. The court excluded the evidence because it did not negate the mens rea for murder and therefore did not support an excuse defense.
Diego Duarte was charged with selling liquor after repeated requests from an undercover officer. The officer's persistence induced the sale despite Duarte's initial reluctance. The court recognized entrapment as an excuse negating criminal intent.
Dominion Capital's officers failed to pay taxes after studying the code and concluding no liability existed. They presented evidence of their studied conclusion. The court instructed the jury that a good-faith misunderstanding of the law could negate willfulness and excuse the violation.
The defendant must produce evidence supporting the defense. Once that burden is met, the prosecution must disprove the defense beyond a reasonable doubt in most jurisdictions.
Excuses admit the act was wrongful but claim the actor was not culpable due to circumstances such as mental illness or entrapment. Justifications assert the act itself was not wrongful under the circumstances.
Yes. Courts may excuse untimely or nonspecific objections to discovery or evidence when the party shows good cause, such as exceptional circumstances preventing timely compliance.
Yes. When a basic assumption of the contract, such as the continued existence of a specific thing, becomes impossible without fault, performance is excused under the doctrine of impossibility.
…only when the guilt of the subject appears highly probable."[^maj-14] The manuals suggest that the suspect be offered legal excuses for his actions in order to obtain an initial admission of guilt. Where there is a suspected revenge-killing, for example, the interrogator may say: "Joe, you probably didn't go out…