The Court of Appeal's conviction of homicide by shotgun was set aside

The Court of Appeal had convicted the defendant of deliberate homicide with a shotgun, see section 275. Due to a malfunction, the shots in both barrels had gone off when the defendant folded the shotgun, which was aimed at the aggrieved person, after loading it. The majority of the Court of Appeal had taken as a fact that the defendant intended to kill the aggrieved person when he found the shotgun and loaded it, and that he would not have refrained from firing at a later time if the shots had not been fired when the gun was folded. The Supreme Court stated that in order to be convicted of completed deliberate homicide, see section 22 subsection 1 (a), the intent of the perpetrator must cover the active element in the act of homicide. However, the Court of Appeal had not identified or discussed what was the specific relevant "act" that the intent had to cover, and it did not appear from the Court of Appeal's judgment whether the Court had considered whether the defendant sought to achieve the aggrieved person's death by folding the shotgun. It was then unclear whether the Court of Appeal had correctly understood and assessed the intent of the completed homicide. The Court of Appeal's judgment was set aside.

Read the whole judgment (Norwegian only) 

Area of law: Criminal law; sections 22 and 275 of the Penal Code

Key paragraphs: 22-23, 28-30

Justices: Matheson, Bull, Bergsjø, Østensen Berglund, Høgetveit Berg