Willfully

JurisdictionMaryland

II. Willfully

A. "Willfully" as an actus reus term

Willfully often means nothing more than the general intent requirement that the Defendant's act be done intentionally and voluntarily. If the Defendant acts voluntarily, it almost never matters that the Defendant may not have known that the law prohibits the very conduct in which the Defendant voluntarily engaged. This is so even though willfully is usually set forth in conjunction with the requisite mental state. For example, "willfully and maliciously" is the mental state for malicious destruction of property and arson. Md. Code Ann., Crim. Law §§ 6-102 & 6-301; Shell v. State, 307 Md. 46, 66 (1986).

B. "Willfully" as a mens rea term

Sometimes, willfully means performing the conduct with a specific intent. For example, in statutory arson, willfully means "acting intentionally, knowingly, and purposely." Md. Code Ann., Crim. Law § 6-101(e). On rare occasion, willfully means that the Defendant must willfully violate the law, meaning acting with an intent to violate that law. When the law so requires, the Defendant must either know that the law prohibits such conduct or, at least, act with conscious disregard as to whether the law prohibits such conduct. Bryan v. United States, 524 U.S. 184, 193 (1998).

In Ratzlaf v. United States, 510 U.S. 135 (1994), the Supreme Court held that, for the Government to establish a violation of 31 U.S.C. § 5324, which criminalizes willfully structuring transactions to evade the reporting requirements of section 5313(a), the Government "must prove that the Defendant acted with knowledge that his conduct was unlawful." Id. at 137. In United States v....

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT