The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 11: Excuse Me!
Excuse pg 5: Mistake of Facts
You know that mistake about the law is no defense, but how about mistake as to the facts?
Samantha here, for example, was at her watering hole drinking for free as usual. The guy at the end of the bar must have bought her three or four funkytinis that night.
Bartender wiping a glass while Samantha looks at a guy down the end of the bar waving.
Except he hadn’t. He’d been paying for the girl sitting next to her. And when Samantha left the bar without paying, the bartender called the cops on her.
From the man’s view, we see he’s waving at a different girl, who’s waving back.
It had been a reasonable mistake, though. From that angle, it sure looked like she was the intended recipient, and she wasn’t trying to steal drinks from the bar.
