Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1999

State v. Brock

State v. Brock
Supreme Court of Louisiana · Decided February 5, 1999 · Lemmon, Reasons, Victory
730 So. 2d 870; 1999 La. LEXIS 522; 1999 WL 55757 (Southern Reporter, Second Series)

State v. Brock

Opinion of the Court

LEMMON, J., Concurring.

The court of appeal, in a comment in denying the writ application, was in error in saying that La.Rev.Stat. 14:40.2 is a general intent statute. The Legislature, in defining stalking, used the phrase “with the intent to place that person in fear of death or bodily injury.”

The words “with intent to defraud” or similar words have always been recognized as denoting the requirement of specific intent. See La.Rev.Stat. 14:11, which provides that the terms “intent” and “intentional,” in the absence of a qualifying provision, have reference to general criminal intent. However, the Reporter’s Comment to Section 11 notes that use of the term “with intent to defraud” indicates that the intent element is a “specific intent”, giving the example of forgery as a specific intent crime which is defined, in part, as a false making or altering of a signature with intent to defraud.

The present statute, which requires that the specified conduct be done with the intent to place the person in fear of death or bodily injury, clearly is a specific intent crime.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.