Smallwood v. State case brief

 

• Smallwood v. State- HIV D was convicted of 3 counts of assault with intent to murder his rape victims based on the awareness that despite the fact that he knew he was HIV positive, he did not use a condom in any of his attacks. Conviction for ∆ reversed

• Before an intent to kill may be inferred based solely on D’s exposure of a victim to a risk of death, it must be shown that the victim’s death would have been a natural and probable result of defendant’s conduct.
• The state presented no evidence from which it can reasonably concluded that death by AIDS is a probable result from D’s actions to the same extent that death is the probable result of firing a deadly weapon at a vital part of someone’s body.

The common law and most American statutes agree with this holding that an attempt requires a purpose (or “specific intent”) to produce the proscribed result, even when recklessness or some lesser mens rea would suffice for conviction.