565.003. Culpable mental state may exist though different person killed — transfer of intent, when — time between act and death no defense. — 1. (1) The culpable mental state necessary for a homicide offense may be found to exist if the only difference between what actually occurred and what was the object of the offender's state of mind is that a different person or persons were killed.
(2) It shall not be a defense to a homicide charge that the identity of the person the offender intended to kill cannot be established. If the state proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the offender had the requisite mental state toward a specific person or a general class of persons who are not identified or who are not identifiable, such intent shall be transferred to a person who is killed by the offender while such mental state existed.
2. The length of time which transpires between conduct which results in a death and is the basis of a homicide offense and the event of such death is no defense to any charge of homicide.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
143
cases (
2 in the last 5 years), 1979–2025 · leading case:
State v. Turner, 623 S.W.2d 4 (Mo. 1981).
State v. Turner, 623 S.W.2d 4 (Mo. 1981).
· cites it 20× “After Mitchell divided the stolen money, defendant bought some gas, drove Mitchell home and returned to his residence. [1] Defendant particularly complains the evidence was insufficient to establish the required mental state for capital murder, § 565.”
State v. Rumble, 680 S.W.2d 939 (Mo. 1984).
· cites it 22× “Defendant Michelle Rene Rumble was convicted of first degree felony murder [§ 565.003, RSMo 1978] [1] and sentenced to life imprisonment.”
State v. Wilkerson, 616 S.W.2d 829 (Mo. 1981).
· cites it 18× “On May 2, 1978, an amended information was filed substituting a charge of first degree murder, §§ 565.003 and 565.008, RSMo Supp. 1977, for the capital murder charge.”
State v. Olds, 603 S.W.2d 501 (Mo. 1980).
· cites it 10× “Robert Nathaniel Olds was convicted by a jury of first degree murder, § 565.003 Laws *503 of 1977 [1] ; statutory rape, § 559.”
State v. Williams, 24 S.W.3d 101 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).
· cites it 13× “Section 565.003, RSMo 1978, governing murder in the first degree, provided that a killing committed in ‘“the perpetration of or in the attempt to perpetrate arson, rape, robbery, burglary, or kidnapping’ was first degree murder.”
State v. Baker, 607 S.W.2d 153 (Mo. 1980).
· cites it 14× “The court of appeals reversed the murder conviction on a determination that the evidence did not establish a case of first degree murder under § 565.003, RSMo 1978. It also reversed and remanded the remaining convictions because of a deficiency in the Jackson County jury panel…”
State v. Lytle, 715 S.W.2d 910 (Mo. 1986).
· cites it 10× “Error is asserted in the admitting of defendant's confession which he contends was coerced, involuntary, and taken in violation of U.”
State v. Holland, 653 S.W.2d 670 (Mo. 1983).
· cites it 12× “In accordance with instructions given, he was convicted of first degree murder (felony murder), a violation of § 565.003, RSMo 1978, and sentenced to life imprisonment.”
State v. Boggs, 634 S.W.2d 447 (Mo. 1982).
· cites it 10× “Defendant asserts as error: (1) failure of the trial court to suppress his confessions allegedly obtained in violation of his right to counsel; (2) instructional errors; (3) insufficiency of the evidence to support the first degree murder conviction; and (4) improper denial of…”
State v. Bowman, 741 S.W.2d 10 (Mo. 1987).
· cites it 10× “1984), and burglary in the second degree (Section 569.”
State v. Handley, 585 S.W.2d 458 (Mo. 1979).
· cites it 10× “007 (now revised in § 565.003, RSMo Supp.1977). [2] Thus a distinct new crime of "first degree murder", was created, the elements of which appear in the statutory definition: (1) the unlawful killing (2) of a human being (3) committed in the perpetration of or in the attempt to…”
State v. Betts, 646 S.W.2d 94 (Mo. 1983).
· cites it 8× “The jury was instructed on capital murder, *96 second degree murder and manslaughter but was not instructed on § 565.003, RSMo 1978, first degree murder committed in the perpetration of burglary.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.