Also known as: results of conduct · causation · factual cause
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
An element of an offense consisting of a consequence or outcome produced by the defendant's conduct. The Model Penal Code distinguishes this from conduct elements and attendant circumstances when defining the actus reus. Liability for result crimes requires proof that the defendant's act or omission caused the prohibited outcome.
Ralph Richardson and Rita Russell both negligently fire shots toward a crowd. One bullet strikes and kills a bystander, but ballistics cannot identify which gun fired it. Because the result of conduct cannot be traced to one defendant, the court shifts the burden to each to prove his shot was not the cause.
Riley Rivera stabs Rebecca Ross during an argument. She lingers in a coma and dies more than fourteen months later. Even though the stabbing clearly produced the fatal result of conduct, the year-and-a-day rule prevents a homicide charge.
Rachel Ramirez sues two factories whose emissions combine to pollute a river. The court determines whether each discharge was a substantial factor in causing the resulting fish kill before allowing the jury to apportion damages.
Roland Rhodes kills a witness who was scheduled to testify against him. Because the killing was not done to prevent testimony, the resulting unavailability does not trigger forfeiture of confrontation rights.
Rising Sun Electronics sells a device to a doctor without adequate warnings. A patient suffers injury from the device. The patient must show that a proper warning would have changed the physician's decision to prescribe, establishing the required result of conduct link.
Royal Crest Hotels is charged with capital murder. The state must prove to the jury that the defendant's conduct produced the death of a police officer during the robbery, satisfying the result element required for the death penalty.
In September 1994, a Wells Fargo armored van pulled up to the drive-up window of a bank in Glendale, Arizona. Inside the van were a driver, a guard, and a messenger carrying a bag with more than $270,000 in cash. As the van waited for the bank to open, a man armed with a rifle approached the driver's side of the van while another man armed with a handgun approached the passenger side. The man with the rifle shot and killed the driver. The man with the handgun shot at the guard but missed. The guard returned fire, shooting and wounding the man with the handgun. The wounded man with the handgun was later identified as Timothy Ring. Ring was indicted for first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery, and other crimes. At trial, the prosecutor presented evidence that Ring and two others had planned to rob the armored van. The jury deadlocked on premeditated murder. It convicted Ring of felony murder occurring in the course of armed robbery. At the sentencing stage of the trial, the judge found two aggravating factors. The judge found that the murder was committed in expectation of pecuniary gain and in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner. The judge found one mitigating factor consisting of Ring's minimal criminal record. Finding that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factor, the judge sentenced Ring to death. On appeal, Ring argued that Arizona's capital sentencing scheme violates the Sixth Amendment as interpreted in Apprendi v. New Jersey. The Arizona Supreme Court rejected that claim, relying on Walton v. Arizona, and affirmed Ring's conviction and sentence. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve whether Walton can be reconciled with Apprendi.
View caseThe Code treats a result of conduct as one of three types of elements that can satisfy the actus reus. It is the outcome produced by the defendant's act or omission and must be proved when the offense definition requires it.
A result crime requires proof that the defendant's conduct produced a specified harmful outcome. A conduct crime is complete upon the performance of the prohibited act regardless of any further consequence.
Yes. The Code and case law recognize hybrid offenses whose actus reus includes both a conduct component and a result-of-conduct component, such as reckless driving that causes death.
…one of degree." To the same effect is the concurring opinion of Justice Cardozo in Schechter Poultry : "There is a view of causation that would obliterate the distinction between what is national and what is local in the activities of commerce. Motion at the outer rim is communicated perceptibly, though minutely, to…