Most criminal statutes require that the government establish that the defendant acted with a defined mental state, or mens rea. In light of the general rule that ignorance of the law is no defense, mens rea requirements commonly focus on the defendant’s knowledge regarding the circumstances surrounding his actions. For example, to prove a defendant guilty of a narcotics offense, the government must prove he knew he was in possession of an illegal substance.1
Frequently, jurors in criminal cases are instructed that they can find a defendant had the requisite mental state if he acted with “conscious avoidance” or “willful blindness” to a particular fact. Thus, in a drug case, assuming there is a factual predicate,2 the jury may be instructed that it can find the defendant acted with the requisite knowledge based on his efforts to avoid learning the illegal nature of the substance in his possession.
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