Also known as: attendant circumstances elements · attendant circumstance element · attendant circumstances
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A material element of an offense consisting of a background fact or condition accompanying the prohibited conduct or result. The element must be proved for liability but does not describe the conduct itself or its consequences. Culpability as to the element is assessed under the definitions of purpose, knowledge, recklessness, or negligence that apply to attendant circumstances.
Ava Adebayo, operations director at Apollo Energy, received a warning that mixed industrial refuse might contain hazardous materials. She directed drivers to dump the loads anyway while privately hoping the hazardous waste was present because it would cut disposal costs. In a prosecution requiring purpose as to the attendant circumstance of hazardous waste presence, her internal hope satisfies the mental state for that element.
Arthur Abrams submitted a forged medical bill using what he believed was Claudia's active insurance policy number. The policy had been canceled months earlier, an unknown factual condition. Charged with common-law attempt to commit insurance fraud, Arthur cannot raise factual impossibility as a defense because his mistake concerned only an attendant circumstance.
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Amber Alonzo, manager at Artemis Logistics, received an architect's memo warning that converted storerooms lacked required fire exits. She approved the conversion while suspecting noncompliance and hoping inspectors would overlook it. In a prosecution requiring knowledge as to the attendant circumstance of fire-exit compliance, her awareness that the circumstance existed satisfies the mental state.
Albert Allen retrieved what he believed were lethal pills, crushed them, and added the powder to Ruby's drink before gesturing for her to return. The pills were actually harmless sugar. Charged with attempted murder, Albert is guilty because he purposely engaged in conduct that would have constituted the crime if the attendant circumstances had been as he believed them to be.
Audrey Ashton bit Anthony Arnold during an altercation, believing the bite could transmit a fatal disease. The belief concerned an attendant circumstance of the battery. In a prosecution for attempted murder, the court assesses whether the defendant's subjective belief about that circumstance supports the required mental state for attempt liability.
Anthony Arnold, an engineer at Avalon Pharmaceuticals, embedded undisclosed backdoor code in software sold to clients. The statute is silent on mens rea. Prosecutors must prove some culpable mental state as to each material element, including the attendant circumstance that the code was undisclosed and access-enabling.
A person acts purposely with respect to an attendant circumstance when aware of its existence or when believing or hoping that it exists. This standard focuses on the actor's mental attitude toward the background fact rather than any desire for broader harm.
No. The common law denies a factual impossibility defense when the defendant's mistake concerns an attendant circumstance and the conduct would have constituted the completed crime if the facts had been as the defendant believed them to be.
Knowledge exists when the actor is aware that the circumstance exists. Awareness of a high probability that the circumstance is present is generally sufficient unless the actor actually believes it does not exist.
A person is guilty of attempt if, acting with the required culpability, the person purposely engages in conduct that would constitute the crime if the attendant circumstances were as the person believed them to be.
…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…