§ 15.03 MOTIVATIONAL CONCURRENCE

• Jurisdiction: North Carolina

§ 15.03. Motivational Concurrence

The impelling force or motivation behind the act that causes the social harm must be the mens rea of the offense, and not some other thought process, such as the mental state of preparing to commit the offense.

For example, suppose that D intends to shoot and kill her spouse, V, as soon as V arrives home. Incorrectly believing the gun is still unloaded, D tests the trigger by pulling it. As she does, V unexpectedly enters the house and is struck and killed by the bullet. Based on these facts, the requisite motivational concurrence is missing. Although D had the intent to kill V as she voluntarily performed the act that caused the death (i.e., temporal concurrence existed), the mens rea—the intent to kill—was not the...