People v. Bland

Opinion

CHIN, J.

We granted review to resolve issues involving transferred intent and proximate causation.

In its classic form, the doctrine of transferred intent applies when the defendant intends to kill one person but mistakenly kills another. The intent to kill the intended target is deemed to transfer to the unintended victim so that the defendant is guilty of murder. (See generally People v. Scott (1996) 14 Cal.4th 544 [59 Cal.Rptr.2d 178, 927 P.2d 288] (Scott)) Whatever its theoretical underpinnings, this result is universally accepted. But conceptual difficulties arise when applying the…