California Penal Code Section 347(a)(1)
California Penal Code section 347 (a)(1) states. “Every person who willfully mingles any poison or harmful substance with any food, drink, medicine, or pharmaceutical product or who willfully places any poison or harmful substance in any spring, well, reservoir, or public water supply, where the person knows or should have known that the same would be taken by any human being to his or her injury, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, four, or five years.”
What Constitutes the Crime of Poisoning in California?
There are 2 elements that make up the crime of poisoning in California. They require that the defendant:
- Willfully mixed poison or a harmful substance with:
- Public water supply
- Food/Beverage
- Medication/pharmaceuticals
- Knows or reasonably should know that someone will consume the poisoned item.
The law applies to both large-scale public goods, such as:
- A water supply
- Meals
- Medications consumed by individual people
One must act purposefully when poisoning a substance, meaning accidental contamination does not count. Also necessary that the defendant knew that what was poisoned would be consumed by someone. A crime can occur even if no one consumes it, as long as someone intended the substance for human consumption. Moreover, even if one doesn’t certainly know that the poisoned item was meant for consumption, as long as the defendant reasonably should have known that it would be consumed, then this will constitute a violation of PC 347 (a)(1).
EX: A frustrated employee decides to take some rat poison and stick it in a pill bottle that he found in his boss’s desk. The boss consumes the rat poison and becomes very ill, but the employee claims that he should not be guilty of violating PC 347 (a)(1) because he had never seen his boss take the medication before. Although he may not have seen anyone take the pills before, he can reasonably assume that someone meant the pill bottle in the desk for consumption.
What Are the Punishments for Poisoning?
Poisoning is a severe crime and qualifies as a felony offense in California. It is punishable by up to 5 years in a state prison. If your poisoning causes great bodily injury or death to another, the court can extend your sentence by 3 years, and you will likely face additional charges.
Related Charges and Aggravating Circumstances
2. at work
3. public institution
This can be considered a particularly dangerous crime with a high risk to a large number of people. Such circumstances often result in a harsher sentence. If the poisoning incident involved:
1. domestic violence
2. act of revenge
3. workplace conflict
Additional counts may be added to the main charge. For example, in the case of proven intent, the prosecutor may insist on life imprisonment or a long term of imprisonment.
How Can I Defend Myself If Someone Accuses Me Of Poisoning?
You can use several legitimate defenses if authorities wrongfully charge you with poisoning in California. Some of them are:
- You didn’t know someone would consume the poisoned item, and it wasn’t reasonable for anyone to know.
- You did not poison the item intentionally
- The substance that you introduced to the item was not poison or a harmful substance
You can defend yourself if you didn’t know someone would consume the poisoned item and if it was unreasonable to expect anyone to know it was for human consumption. Also, it is required that you poisoned the item willfully. This means that you knew that the substance would be harmful to others and that you purposefully mixed it with an item for human consumption.
EX: A mother makes cookies for her son and friends who are visiting, and the cookies include nuts, which one of her son’s friends is allergic to. The friend has an allergic reaction, and the mother faces charges under PC 347(a)(1). She would be guilty if she knew the friend was allergic and purposefully included the nuts, but she would be innocent if she had no knowledge of his allergy.
Lastly, the substance you introduced must actually be poisonous or harmful. This is a legal grey area, but sometimes people may face poisoning charges even when the substance deemed a “poison” is not actually harmful. KAASS LAW focuses on defending clients accused of poisoning under California Penal Code 347(a)(1).