United States v. Moore
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
846 F.2d 1163 (1988)
- Written by Rich Walter, JD
Facts
The United States government (plaintiff) prosecuted James Vernell Moore (defendant), a federal prison inmate, for inflicting deep bites on two prison guards. The indictment charged that Moore, who had been tested positively for the often-deadly AIDS virus, assaulted the guards by means of a deadly and dangerous weapon—Moore's mouth and teeth. Although Moore was also known to have hepatitis, the indictment did not mention that disease. At trial, an expert witness testified that AIDS probably could not be transmitted by biting, but that nevertheless deep bites could infect the victim with so many types of virus that potentially those viruses could cause a victim serious harm. Moore asked the judge to instruct the jury that, to prove his mouth and teeth were a deadly and dangerous weapon, the government (plaintiff) needed to show that AIDS could be transmitted by biting. The judge refused Moore's request, and the jury convicted Moore. Moore appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Timbers, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 805,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
