§ 24.04 Voluntary Intoxication: Voluntary Act

§ 24.04 Voluntary Intoxication: Voluntary Act

Occasionally, a person will become so intoxicated that he is rendered unconscious, in which condition his body may move in an automatic, i.e., unwilled, manner and cause harm to others. If so, may a defendant seek to avoid conviction by asserting the general principle of criminal responsibility that a person may not be convicted of a crime unless his conduct includes a voluntary act, i.e., a willed, conscious, muscular contraction?⁵⁵

There are few cases that deal directly with this issue because an unconscious person will almost certainly also assert a voluntary-intoxication mens rea defense as well, assuming the jurisdiction permits such claims. Where courts have spoken to the issue, the approach appears to be that, although unconsciousness ordinarily precludes criminal liability, it is not a defense if that condition was itself brought on by voluntary consumption of alcohol or drugs.⁵⁶

Unconsciousness may serve as a basis for acquittal in another manner, however. Courts sometimes state that evidence of unconsciousness produced by voluntary intoxication may be introduced by a defendant when "his defense is that he did not physically accomplish the act of which he is accused."⁵⁷ In other words, the defendant may use his intoxication-induced unconsciousness to prove that he did not commit the criminal act at all, as distinguished from claiming that he committed it involuntarily.

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Notes:

^[55] See § 9.02[A], supra.

^[56] E.g., Schlatter v. State, 891 N.E.2d 1139, 1143 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008); State v. Utter, 479 P.2d 946 (Wash. Ct. App. 1971); see People v. Boyer, 133 P.3d 581, 622 (Cal. 2006) ("[V]oluntary...