California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Mondragon, E067008 (Cal. App. 2018):
requiring that defendant's belief be both actual and reasonable. [] If the mental state element at issue is either specific criminal intent or knowledge, do not use the bracketed language requiring the belief to be reasonable." "For general intent crimes, the defendant's mistaken belief must be both actual and reasonable, but if the mental state of the crime is a specific intent or knowledge, then the mistaken belief must only be actual." (People v. Lawson (2013) 215 Cal.App.4th 108, 115.)
Here, the instruction given to the jury included the bracketed, reasonable mistake language. This bracketed language should not have been used because forgery is a specific intent crime. Mistake of fact need not be objectively reasonable for the defense to apply. (People v. Russell (2006) 144 Cal.App.4th 1415, 1425-1426.) This is because, regardless of whether the mistake is reasonable, the mistake negates the specific intent. (Id. at p. 1425.)
B. Invited Error
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