State v. Diaz

Leben, J.:

A jury convicted Terry Diaz of aggravated failure to appear after he didn’t attend the pretrial conference for his felony drug possession charge and didn’t turn himself in for over 8 months. Diaz insists on appeal that the evidence was insufficient to convict him because his failure to appear wasn’t willful — his attorney told him that he didn’t need to attend. He also argues that a mistake instruction should have been given.

Although a mistake of fact is a defense to a crime when it negates the crime’s required mental state, Diaz’ claimed mistake does not negate the required mental…