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Tennessee?s Highest Court Rejects Intoxication Instruction

By Baker Associates

It is no secret that voluntary intoxication rarely leads to intelligent decisions. In fact, it is primarily responsible for a large amount of violent and vehicular crime that finds its way to the criminal courts of Tennessee on a daily basis. Almost daily in Tennessee, one could go to any court in any county and hear someone plead voluntary intoxication as a defense or use it as a justification for his or her criminal behavior. This is so because such intoxication can work in a defendant?s favor if it serves to negate a required mental state for a particular crime. For example, being intoxicated can serve to negate a malicious state of mind or a specific intent to kill if such an element is an element of the offense charged. To serve this purpose, however, intoxication as a defense must actually be proven in court.continue to full post

Full post as published by Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog on October 08, 2010 (boomark / email).