1.13Mens Rea Standard

Effective December 22, 2015, 2015 PA 250 added MCL 8.9 to provide a default mens rea standard applicable to certain¹ crimes committed on or after January 1, 2016. MCL 8.9 also provides that “[i]t is not a defense to a crime that the defendant was, at the time the crime occurred, under the influence of or impaired by a voluntarily and knowingly consumed alcoholic liquor, drug, including a controlled substance, other substance or compound, or combination of alcoholic liquor, drug, or other substance or compound. However, it is an affirmative defense to a specific intent crime, for which the defendant has the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence, that he or she voluntarily ingested a legally obtained and properly used medication or other substance and did not know and reasonably should not have known that he or she would become intoxicated or impaired.” MCL 8.9(6).

For a more detailed discussion of MCL 8.9, see the Michigan Judicial Institute’s Criminal Proceedings Benchbook, Vol. 1, Chapter 10.