Memorandum: Aggravated Mayhem Charge Against Harvey Brewer

A. Additional Sample Memoranda

MEMORANDUM

CONFIDENTIAL

Attorney Work Product

To: Arvin Noah

From: Jack Sparrow

Date: September 9, 2017

Re: Aggravated mayhem charge against Harvey Brewer

FACTS Jack Horford and Harvey Brewer had business difficulties resulting in increasingly confrontational disagreements. While at a football game, Horford and Brewer became involved in a heated argument that escalated into a fistfight. During this fight, Brewer attacked Horford with a switchblade knife. When Horford lunged for the knife, Brewer stabbed him once in the arm and once just under the ribcage. Horford fell against a lamppost, bleeding from his injuries. Brewer then took another swing with the knife and severed Horford’s left ear from his head. At the hospital, doctors were able to re-attach Horford’s ear with minimal scarring.

QUESTION PRESENTED

Does Harvey Brewer’s switchblade attack against Jack Horford constitute aggravated mayhem under section 205 of the California Penal Code?

BRIEF ANSWER Yes. Both the nature and timing of the disfiguring injury indicate extreme indifference to Horford’s

Penal Code § 205 (West 2010). A charge of aggravated mayhem requires evidence demonstrating specific intent to maim the victim. People v. Ferrell, 218 Cal. App. 3d 828, 833 (1990). “A jury may infer a defendant’s specific intent from the circumstances attending the act, the manner in which it is done, and the means used, among other factors.” Id. at 834. Moreover, the specific intent to maim may not be proven exclusively from evidence that the injury inflicted is permanently disfiguring. Id.

In Ferrell, the defendant entered the victim’s apartment and, after a confrontation, shot one victim in the knee, and another victim in the neck paralyzing her. Id. at 832. The court described the attack as cold, calm, and deliberate and held that the evidence was sufficient for the jury to reasonably infer the specific intent for aggravated mayhem. Id. at