Also known as: attendant circumstance elements · attendant circumstances element · attendant circumstances elements · attendant circumstances · circumstance element
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A material element of an offense consisting of a background fact or condition that accompanies the prohibited conduct or result. The element is established when the actor is aware of the circumstance, believes it exists, or hopes it exists, depending on the required culpability level for that element.
Rosa Diaz approved converting storerooms into guest rooms after receiving an architect's memo stating the rooms lacked required secondary exits. She told owners the rooms were safe but privately admitted she suspected noncompliance and hoped inspectors would overlook it. In a prosecution requiring purpose as to the attendant circumstance of code compliance, her belief and hope that the exits were noncompliant satisfies the mental state for that element.
Lance submitted a forged medical bill using what he believed was Claudia's active policy number. The policy had been canceled months earlier, making any payout impossible. Charged with common-law attempt, he cannot raise factual impossibility as a defense because the policy status was an attendant circumstance and his conduct would have completed the crime if the facts had been as he believed.
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Luis received a title report noting a possible unrecorded lien on the condo project. He assured buyers title was clear while secretly hoping the lien still existed and would surface only after closing. For an offense requiring purpose regarding the attendant circumstance of the lien's existence, his hope that the lien remained satisfies the mental state.
Mary crushed what she believed were lethal pills and added the powder to Ruby's drink, then placed the glass where Ruby would see it. A coworker discarded the glass before Ruby drank. Mary is guilty of attempted murder because she purposely engaged in conduct that would have constituted the crime if the attendant circumstance of the pills' lethality had been as she believed.
A defendant bit the victim during an altercation and later claimed he could not have known the bite would prove fatal. The attendant circumstance of the bite's potential lethality is evaluated under the defendant's actual belief at the time. His subjective understanding of that circumstance determines whether the required mental state attaches to the element.
Officers questioned a suspect without first providing Miranda warnings. The suspect later sought to suppress statements on the ground that the attendant circumstance of custody had not been properly addressed. The analysis turns on whether the officers were aware of or believed the circumstance of custodial interrogation existed at the time of questioning.
Purpose requires that the actor is aware of the circumstance or believes or hopes that it exists. Knowledge requires only that the actor is aware that the circumstance exists. Both standards treat the circumstance as a background fact rather than conduct or a result.
Supporting sources
No. Factual impossibility, including a mistake about an attendant circumstance, is not a defense when the defendant's conduct would have constituted the completed crime if the facts had been as the defendant believed them to be.
Supporting sources
An attendant circumstance is a background condition that must exist for the offense to occur but does not describe the actor's conduct or the harm produced by that conduct. Examples include the existence of a lien, the compliance status of a building, or the lethality of a substance the actor believes is present.
Supporting sources
Yes. It is enough that the actor believes or hopes the circumstance exists as part of achieving a larger objective. The mental state attaches even if the actor would have preferred the circumstance not to exist.
Supporting sources
…otherwise required for commission of the crime, he: (1) Purposely engages in conduct which would constitute the crime if the attendant circumstances were as a reasonable person would believe them to be; (2) When causing a particular result is an element of the crime, does or omits to do anything with the purpose of causing such…