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Searching For The State’S Guilty Mind: Mens Rea Evidence Against The Authors Of The Torture Memos Under Federal Law And The Model Rules, Daniel Hornal

Daniel Hornal

This article analyzes the mens rea required for a criminal conviction of lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel (hereinafter OLC) under a theory that they aided and abetted torture when they wrote the so-called torture memos. It then speculates as to what form the evidence to prove that mens rea would take, if it exists. It then looks at the D.C. Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct to see which rules the OLC lawyers may have violated, based on information in the public record. Finally, it analyzes each rule to determine the minimum mens rea necessary to violate that rule …