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Santillanes v. New Mexico
Supreme Court of New Mexico (1993)
Petitioner: Frost J. Santillanes, the defendant cut the throat of his nephew in an altercation. The trial judge instructed the jury that the civil standard of negligence applied to this criminal case. Negligence was described by the trial judge as an act of negligence which "must be one which a reasonable prudent person would foresee as involving an unreasonable risk injury to himself or to another and which such a person, in the excercise of ordinary care, would not do." The defendant challenges this jury instruction.
Issue: Did the trial judge err in giving the jury the instructions of civil negligence instead of criminal negligence?
Holding: Yes
Legal Reasoning: Law can't criminalize conduct which is morally incompatible. Criminal intent is an essential element of a crime and this is why civil instructions should not be given in criminal cases.
**The defendant's conviction was still upheld because the court found that the jury instructions were harmless to the overall case.