Mens rea cases

Mens rea cases are those that walk the fine line between the maxim that "ignorance of the law is no excuse" and how an intent (or recklessness) to doing wrongful acts is a longstanding element of most crimes:

Supreme Court

• Ruan v. United States, 142 S. Ct. 2370 (2022)

Citations to Ruan as of May 31, 2023

Federal Courts - 97

U.S. Supreme Court - 11

2nd Circuit - 4

3rd Circuit - 11

4th Circuit - 11

5th Circuit - 6

6th Circuit - 16

7th Circuit - 2

8th Circuit - 2

9th Circuit - 10

10th Circuit - 3

11th Circuit - 18

D.C. Circuit - 2

Mil. Justice - 1

Tenth Circuit

• United States v. Kahn, 58 F. 4th 1308 (10th Cir. 2023)
• United States v. Henson (10th Cir. Mar. 2, 2023)

Eleventh Circuit

• United States v. Heaton, 59 F. 4th 1226, 1240-42 (11th Cir. 2023)
• United States v. Germeil (11th Cir. Feb. 14, 2023)
• United States v. Maltbia (11th Cir. 2023)
• United States v. Mencia (11th Cir. Nov. 30, 2022)

Fifth Circuit

United States v. Ajayi, 64 F. 4th 243, 248 (5th Cir. 2023)

District court within Fifth Circuit

United States v. Lamartiniere (M.D. La. Mar. 27, 2023)

Sixth Circuit

United States v. Anderson (6th Cir. 2023) (allowing regulatory weakening of the mens rea requirement to substitute for the statutory text)

All jurisdictions

• Brizuela v. United States, Civil Action No. 1:22CV2, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 170996, at *14 (N.D.W. Va. Sep. 21, 2022) (denying a motion to vacate a conviction and sentence based on Ruan, by saying that "Government had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you knew your actions were not for legitimate medical purposes in the usual course of professional practice, medical practice, or beyond the bounds of medical practice" and declaring that to be equivalent to the Ruan standard)
• United States v. Adelglass, No. 20-cr-605 (JSR), 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185964, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 11, 2022) (denying motions to dismiss indictment even after Ruan).
• United States v. Alvear (D. Nev. Apr. 24, 2023)
• United States v. Blume (S.D.W. Va. Aug. 26, 2022)
• United States v. Ferrell (E.D. Tex. Dec. 2, 2022)
• United States v. Ferris, 52 F.4th 235 (5th Cir. 2022)
• United States v. Kamra (3d Cir. Oct. 4, 2022)
• United States v. Kistler (S.D. Ohio Jan. 30, 2023)
• United States v. Kraynak (M.D. Pa. Aug. 8, 2022)
• United States v. La (M.D. Tenn. Mar. 30, 2023)
• United States v. Murphy (N.D. Ala. Feb. 17, 2023)
• United States v. Naylor (E.D. Tenn. Sept. 21, 2022)
• United States v. Oppong (6th Cir. Apr. 8, 2022)
• United States v. Parasmo (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 30, 2023)
• United States v. Parker (W.D. Ark. Oct. 5, 2022)
• United States v. Pham (C.D. Cal. Apr. 7, 2023)
• United States v. Ranochak (N.D. Ind. Sept. 19, 2022)
• United States v. Sachy, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 148403 (M.D. Ga. Aug. 18, 2022)
• United States v. Spayd (D. Alaska Sept. 20, 2022)
• United States v. Taylor (E.D. Ky. Dec. 12, 2022)
• United States v. Wells (D. Nev. May 10, 2023)
• Woo Wai v. United States, 223 F. 412, 416 (9th Cir. 1915) (overturning a conviction based on entrapment, and quoting other decisions that overturned convictions for non-crimes, including "It is safer law and sounder morals to hold that, where an owner arranges to have a crime committed against his property or himself, and knows that an attempt is to be made to encourage others to commit the act and others to be led into and encouraged in its commission by acting in concert with such owner, no crime is thus committed.") (quoting Love v. People, 160 Ill. 501, 43 N.E. 710, 32 L.R.A. 139).

Citations to Woo Wai v. US

Federal Courts 56

U.S. Supreme Court 4

1st Circuit 1

2nd Circuit 5

3rd Circuit 3

4th Circuit 3

5th Circuit 3

6th Circuit 5

7th Circuit 4

8th Circuit 5

9th Circuit 18

10th Circuit 1