OUJI-CR 4-11

ASSAULT -- DEFINITION OF TRANSFERRED INTENT

If you find that the defendant intended to kill/injure/assault [Name of Intended Victim], and by mistake or accident injured/assaulted [Name of Actual Victim], the element of intent is satisfied even though the defendant did not intend to kill/injure/assault [Name of Actual Victim]. In such a case, the law regards the intent as transferred from the original intended victim to the actual victim.

Notes on Use

This instruction should be given only if warranted by the evidence. The trial court should delete alternatives in the instruction that do not apply to the particular facts of the case. If used, it should be given immediately after the instruction on mens rea. For homicide prosecutions, see OUJI-CR 4-62, infra.

Committee Comments

For a description of the doctrine of transferred intent, see W. LaFave & A. Scott, Criminal Law § 3.12(d) (2d ed. 1986). The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals approved a jury instruction on transferred intent in an assault case in Jones v. State, 1973 OK CR 151, ¶ 6, 508 P.2d 280, 282. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in Runnels v. State, 2018 OK CR 27, ¶ 21, 426 P.3d 614, 620, that the doctrine of transferred intent did not permit a jury to find an intent to kill the actual victim based upon an intent to injure or assault an intended victim. Instead, the intent to kill the actual victim may only be based upon an intent to kill an intended victim.

(2019 Supp.)