State v. Blake

The Washington Supreme Court has declared Washington State’s Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance statute to be unconstitutional because it contains no mens rea. A mens rea is a mental state associated with a crime. For instance, to be convicted of theft, one must intend to steal the item and cannot have accidentally or mistakenly taken something. There was no such requirement for possession and thus one could be convicted for accidental possession, unknowing possession, etc. The decision can be read here. The impacts of this are enormous and will likely lead to convictions being vacated, other statutes that are lacking a mens rea to be challenged, recalculation of offender scores, and more!