So I’m an assassin but due to a bump on the head, I’ve lost my memory and I now believe my cover story. Fortunately, this also seems to have reset my moral compass and I no longer want to be an assassin. As my memories return, I recall setting a bomb to kill someone, so I go to the police and tell them about it. Thankfully, they believe me and find the bomb. Phew. I just saved a bunch of innocent people.
But umm… I’m still in a lot of legal trouble right? Like, I confessed to planting an explosive device with the intended purpose of murder. We’re talking some serious charges, right?
Presumably, there might be some sentencing leeway because of my confession but I’m thinking being released is not going to happen.
This is of course entirely hypothetical and based on a movie I just watched (I won’t say which one so as to avoid spoilers). I don’t need an answer fast.
(Let’s assume there’s no evidence of my ever having killed anybody else, just my confession to the bomb)
They’d have to take it seriously, JIC.
But they probably wouldn’t believe the amnesia bit…they’d treat it as if you’d
just changed your mind for some reason.
I think that’s similar enough, but just for the heck of it, let’s say there is evidence of the bump on the head (it happened in a well-documented car crash) and medical doctors’ that will testify to the amnesia.
Mens rea (guilty mind or intent to commit a crime) is part of legal culpability. When you set the bomb you meant to do it. Growing a conscience later (however it comes about) does not change that.
I would think your sentencing would account for you getting a conscience and stopping the bomb but it would not absolve you completely. You’d just get a lighter sentence. I doubt amnesia would figure into it.
I wonder if the conscience emerging because of amnesia and not because of actual personal growth might actually work against me for getting a lighter sentence? Would a prosecutor argue that I didn’t really become a better person, and realize that what I had done was wrong, but rather my new found morality came about from briefly believing I was a moral person, and who knows, I could revert to my evil ways in time.
I know this one is highly fictional and hypothetical but hopefully still interesting.
There is a similar story in a Stargate SG-1 episode. The murderer on a planet populated with amnesia victims takes the antidote and fears she will kill someone again. She gets off when amnesia is re-induced.
So, what if she remembers again?
I’d say that just counts as changing your mind, you should be locked up and the key thrown away.
How can we be convinced that it’s a permanent change? Perhaps as your memory improves you’ll remember the traumatic events that caused you to abandon empathy for humanity in the first place.
I just watched that movie the other day. I like that one. Certainly not the best of action movies, but enjoyable. Samuel L Jackson is just fantastic in everything.
It’s a very ‘Nineties movie with a lot of terrible gun handling and vastly overusing the “heroes outrunning explosions” trope, but as you say, Samuel L. Jackson elevates anything he’s in and I’ll watch Geena Davis in any movie.
I do not think this works per the OP’s hypothetical. From your link:
Abandonment and withdrawal is an affirmative criminal defense that arises when a defendant asserts that he or she never completed, or was not involved in, a criminal act because he or she abandoned or withdrew from the act prior to it happening.
In the OP’s story the bomb was set. The crime was completed. They were involved in a criminal act.
I am not sure undoing things after the fact gets you off the hook. It’d be like robbing a bank and then returning the money. I am pretty sure that person would still go to prison.
Even if it’s not an absolute legal defense, it would obviously go a long way to helping mitigate any prosecution of the crime. A person who undoes their crime before real consequences occur will almost certainly get some consideration for a favorable plea offer.
In a lot of jurisdictions, a person with no prior criminal history might get a first time offense dismissed if they agree to first perform some obligations (like paying fines, completing community service, or undergoing counseling), usually over the course of a year or so.
What crime? I mean, trespassing, probably, possession of an incendiary/explosive device, OK. But I can assure you the law can tell the difference between a bomb that goes off and one that is reported to the police and removed.
Just saw your post from earlier. Sure, the mens rea is an element of a crime. But actually performing the illegal act is also an element.
Abandonment/renunciation is usually a defense to attempt. It’s pretty good evidence you didn’t try to kill anybody if you’re the reason the “attempt” was abandoned. E.g.
(4) Renunciation of Criminal Purpose. When the actor’s conduct would otherwise constitute an attempt under Subsection
(I)(b) or (1)(c) of this Section, it is an affirmative defense that he abandoned his effort to commit the crime or otherwise
prevented its commission, under circumstances manifesting a complete and voluntary renunciation of his criminal
purpose. The establishment of such defense does not, however, affect the liability of an accomplice who did not join in
such abandonment or prevention.
Within the meaning of this Article, renunciation of criminal purpose is not voluntary if it is motivated, in whole or in part,
by circumstances, not present or apparent at the inception of the actor’s course of conduct, that increase the probability
of detection or apprehension or that make more difficult the accomplishment of the criminal purpose. Renunciation
is not complete if it is motivated by a decision to postpone the criminal conduct until a more advantageous time or to
transfer the criminal effort to another but similar objective or victim
If you’re an assassin, it would seem that someone paid you to plant the bomb. You’d probably still be in trouble, but you could probably get a good sentence recommendation not only for preventing the bombing, but also in helping apprehend the person who paid for the bombing in the first place. It’s pretty well established that hiring someone to commit a crime is a crime unto itself, so catching that person is important, because there’s no reason to suppose they won’t hire a new assassin when your bomb fails to go off.
I didn’t even think of that film in the “assassins with amnesia” category. I thought the OP was talking about maybe Jason Bourne or American Ultra or Total Recall or Captain America and the Winter Soldier.
IANAL, but I would imagine that you would receive lesser charges and/or a reduced sentence if you helped the authorities locate and disarm the bomb and bring the conspirators to justice.
I think the nature of your condition and profession also must be taken into account. If you’re an agent of the US Government acting in official capacity, there would be different legal implications from those of someone working for organized crime or terrorists.
And I believe you still could be held accountable for other crimes. Simply having amnesia isn’t a defense any more than being black out drunk is.
