Because fraud cases require proof the defendant intended to commit a crime, such approval creates what is known as a reliance defense.
Even though a person actually intends to commit a crime, his procurement of the instrumentalities adapted to that end will not constitute an attempt to commit the crime in the absence of some overt act.
Mr Murakami said he had not intended to commit a crime when buying shares in a radio-station operator in the knowledge that a takeover offer could be made on it by livedoor, an internet firm that was subsequently investigated in a separate inquiry.
But the NRA's draft language would require law enforcement officials to prove that the straw purchaser had reason to believe the buyer was prohibited from obtaining guns or knew that the buyer intended to commit a crime, according to an analysis of the NRA proposal provided to The Washington Post by the Bloomberg-led mayors group.
While Mr. Kozlowski admitted many of the prosecution's assertions about how the money was used, he consistently said that he never intended to commit a crime because all the loans, which he says were approved by the board, were "in the records and books of the company," as he explained at one point.
While you may not be intending to commit a crime when you pee in the pool, the mixture creates a toxic chemical known as Cyanogen chloride, which has been classified as an agent of chemical warfare.
In Germany, doctors risk prison if they disclose information about their patients to anyone unless there is evidence they intend to commit a serious crime or harm themselves.
In Kansas, a defendant may cite a "mental disease or defect" only as a partial defense, and can be found guilty as long as he intended to commit a violent crime.
Prosecutors had to prove that Quattrone intended to commit an illegal act; negligence is not a crime here.
