California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. McDaniel, 22 Cal.App.4th 278, 27 Cal.Rptr.2d 306 (Cal. App. 1994):
The underlying purpose of the threat in section 139, threats of force or violence against a witness or crime victim, is "to cause the target of the threat to reasonably fear for his or her safety or the safety of his or her immediate family." ( 139, subd. (c).) The communication of the threat is the act and the intent to create a future or additional consequence is the intent to cause the victim to feel fear or intimidation. (People v. Dollar, supra, 228 Cal.App.3d 1335, 1341, 279 Cal.Rptr. 502.) Thus section 139 has been held, under the Hood analysis, to have the
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Section 136.1 proscribes preventing or dissuading a witness or victim from testifying or doing other enumerated acts. Unless the defendant's acts or statements are intended to affect or influence a potential witness' or victim's testimony or acts, no crime has been committed under this section. (People v. Ford, supra, 145 Cal.App.3d 985, 989, 193 Cal.Rptr. 684.) Since the definition refers to a defendant's intent to achieve some further or additional consequence, section 136.1 is a specific intent crime. (Id., at p. 990, 193 Cal.Rptr. 684.)
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