DISCLAIMER: The following unofficial case summaries are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
181861P.pdf 09/16/2019 United States v. Kevin Jay Mast
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 18-1861
U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota - Sioux Falls
[PUBLISHED] [Kelly, Author, with Loken and Colloton, Circuit Judges]
Criminal case - Criminal law. In a prosecution for otherwise disturbing
National Wildlife Refuge System property in violation of 16 U.S.C. Sec.
6688(c) and (f)(2), the instruction given by the district court was
erroneous in that it did not require the jury to find that defendant acted
with the necessary mens rea; based on the statutory language, the
legislative history and the strong preference that criminal statutes
require some minimal mens rea, the subsection involved here requires that
the government prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant should have
known that there was a substantial risk that his action would violate or
fail to comply with any of the provisions of the Act or any regulation
thereunder. Judge Colloton, dissenting.