Criminal mens rea: knowing participation in the conspiracy or intent to restrain trade

AND · 15usc1:intent

In civil cases, unlawful intent or anticompetitive effect suffices (United States v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. 422, 436 n.13 (1978)). In non-per-se criminal prosecutions (Gypsum), the government must prove either knowledge that the conduct would produce anticompetitive effects or purpose to produce them; in per se criminal prosecutions, knowing joinder in the price-fixing/allocation agreement suffices.

Exact element source

shall be deemed guilty of a felony
Source: docroot/ir/usc/title15.jsonl#title15_sec1; Unicode character offsets [361:395] (end exclusive); SHA-256 9c248965c2c712de1e3f3d52a17be4c90dfdcac5d3f9fea0b7220b164e2c2973.

All variants

Recorded DB variant labels, including zero-count variants
VariantDescriptionMerits instance blocksDistinct casesExample cases (up to 3 per group)
knowing-joinder/per-se-no-proof-of-anticipated-effects0
Satisfied 0; not satisfied 0; excluded context 1
0No counted merits examples

Excluded context examples: /f2d/845/1367-01 — United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1988 — rule-announced/merits

How courts decided this element

Annotation blocks, including explicitly excluded context
CaseElementHolding and scopeVariantExact source quotations
/f2d/845/1367-01 — United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1988Criminal mens rea: knowing participation in the conspiracy or intent to restrain tradenot_reached
Excluded from merits counts
rule-announced / merits

Rule about the CONTENT of the element, not a finding: in a per se case the government need not show knowledge of probable anticompetitive effects (a proposed extra requirement rejected). The jury had in fact been instructed on the stricter standard and convicted anyway; knowing joinder is reviewed only inside the global "sufficient evidence to support the convictions" conclusion (see the agreement block), with no separate held sentence.
knowing-joinder/per-se-no-proof-of-anticipated-effects
the government need only prove (1) the existence of the alleged agreement and (2) that defendants knowingly entered into the conspiracy
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f2d_845.jsonl#/f2d/845/1367-01; Unicode character offsets [22567:22702] (end exclusive); SHA-256 6de135bb995241e5b5920b922fd1d37a36df556878ae18ce5aacbff66b08be04.

Evidence kind: rule; polarity: not recorded; absent flag: 0; quoted-rule flag: 0 (1 = tagged; 0 = not tagged)

In cases involving an alleged per se violation, intent to restrain trade is presumed.
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f2d_845.jsonl#/f2d/845/1367-01; Unicode character offsets [23032:23117] (end exclusive); SHA-256 6de135bb995241e5b5920b922fd1d37a36df556878ae18ce5aacbff66b08be04.

Evidence kind: rule; polarity: not recorded; absent flag: 0; quoted-rule flag: 0 (1 = tagged; 0 = not tagged)

Contrary to the defendants’ contentions, the government is not required in a per se case to show that the conspirators entered into the agreement with knowledge of its probable anti-competitive effects.
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f2d_845.jsonl#/f2d/845/1367-01; Unicode character offsets [22704:22906] (end exclusive); SHA-256 6de135bb995241e5b5920b922fd1d37a36df556878ae18ce5aacbff66b08be04.

Evidence kind: held; polarity: not recorded; absent flag: 0; quoted-rule flag: 0 (1 = tagged; 0 = not tagged)

Court interpretations

interpretation

the government need only prove (1) the existence of the alleged agreement and (2) that defendants knowingly entered into the conspiracy

/f2d/845/1367-01 — United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1988

the government need only prove (1) the existence of the alleged agreement and (2) that defendants knowingly entered into the conspiracy
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f2d_845.jsonl#/f2d/845/1367-01; Unicode character offsets [22567:22702] (end exclusive); SHA-256 6de135bb995241e5b5920b922fd1d37a36df556878ae18ce5aacbff66b08be04.

In civil cases, unlawful intent or anticompetitive effect suffices (United States v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. 422, 436 n.13 (1978)). In non-per-se criminal prosecutions (Gypsum), the government must prove either knowledge that the conduct would produce anticompetitive effects or purpose to produce them; in per se criminal prosecutions, knowing joinder in the price-fixing/allocation agreement suffices.

interpretation

In cases involving an alleged per se violation, intent to restrain trade is presumed.

/f2d/845/1367-01 — United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1988

In cases involving an alleged per se violation, intent to restrain trade is presumed.
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f2d_845.jsonl#/f2d/845/1367-01; Unicode character offsets [23032:23117] (end exclusive); SHA-256 6de135bb995241e5b5920b922fd1d37a36df556878ae18ce5aacbff66b08be04.

In civil cases, unlawful intent or anticompetitive effect suffices (United States v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. 422, 436 n.13 (1978)). In non-per-se criminal prosecutions (Gypsum), the government must prove either knowledge that the conduct would produce anticompetitive effects or purpose to produce them; in per se criminal prosecutions, knowing joinder in the price-fixing/allocation agreement suffices.

not-required

Proof in a criminal per se case that defendants specifically intended to produce anticompetitive effects or knew the probable anticompetitive effects (Cooperative Theatres, 845 F.2d at 1373)

No source quotation recorded.