Facts: Petitioner Ali Elmi was convicted of attempted murder and four counts of first degree assault in the Superior Court for King County after firing gunshots into the living room that was occupied by his wife and her three children. Elmi subsequently appealed the three convictions for first degree assault against the children, asserting that his intent to inflict great bodily harm upon his wife could not be transferred to the children as they had suffered no injury and he had been unaware of their presence. The Washington Court of Appeals affirmed Elmi’s convictions, ruling that Elmi’s intent to inflict great bodily harm did not have to match a specific victim as the children were nonetheless placed in apprehension of harm by Elmi’s actions. Elmi appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of Washington.

Question(s): Did Elmi possess sufficient intent to convict him of first degree assault against the children?

Conclusion: Justice Charles W. Johnson’s opinion for the Court affirmed the Washington Court of Appeals, concluding that although Elmi did not possess specific intent to assault the children, his specific intent to harm his wife transferred to any unintended victims placed in apprehension of harm regardless of whether they were actually harmed.

Docket No. 80380-3 (from Court of Appeals Division I Case No. 56460-9)

Petitioner: Ali Mohammed Elmi a/k/a Mohammed Ali Elmi

Respondent: State of Washington

Briefs:

Argument: Thursday, May 22, 2008 11:15am

[Source: TVW, http://tvw.org]

Decided: Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Prevailing Party: State of Washington (Respondent)

Vote: 6-3

Citation: Pending

Alexander

Johnson

Madsen

Sanders

Chambers

Owens

Fairhurst

Johnson

Stephens

Opinion

Dissent