People v. Williams

Lebarron Keith Williams (defendant) was involved with Deborah Nicholson, who was also still tangled up with her former husband, Gregory King, leading to friction between the two men. When King came to Nicholson's house with his teenage sons, Williams warned him away, retrieved a shotgun, and fired at King's truck's rear wheel well while King crouched on the other side; Williams said he only meant to fire a warning shot and never saw King's sons nearby. No one was hit, though the truck was. Williams was charged with shooting at an occupied vehicle and three counts of assault; the jury convicted him of assaulting King but deadlocked on the rest. The court of appeal reversed, finding the standard assault instruction misdescribed the required mental state, and the California Supreme Court took the case to clarify assault's mens rea.