PJC Business

D AMAGES

PJC 115.45

A person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, with respect to a result of his conduct when he is aware that his conduct is reasonably certain to cause the result. A person acts intentionally, or with intent, with respect to a result of his conduct when it is his conscious objective or desire to cause the result. If the gravamen of an offense is the nature of the conduct, the definition of “know ingly” and “intentionally” might be modified as follows: A person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, with respect to a nature of his conduct or circumstances surrounding his conduct when he is aware of the nature of his conduct or that the circumstances exist. A person acts intentionally, or with intent, with respect to the nature of his conduct when it is his conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct. Because section 41.008(d) does not indicate whether the definition of “intention ally” or “knowingly” as narrowed in these examples should be used, and civil courts have not spoken on the issue, the Committee has adopted the complete statutory defi nitions of knowingly and intentionally from Tex. Penal Code § 6.03(a), (b) for use in the charge. “Agreement.” In an appropriate case, submit the following definition of “agree ment”: “Agreement” means the act of agreement or coming to an agree ment; a harmonious understanding; or an arrangement as to a course of action. Bynum v. State , 711 S.W.2d 321, 323 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 1986), aff’d , 767 S.W.2d 769 (Tex. Crim. App. 1989) (applying ordinary, dictionary definition of “agreement”); Skillern v. State , 355 S.W.3d 262, 268 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2011, pet. ref’d). Acting contrary to a law governing disposition of property. In an appropriate case, the phrase a law prescribing the custody or disposition of the property may be substituted for, or added to, the phrase an agreement under which the person holds the property . See Tex. Penal Code § 32.45(a)(2). Property. Tex. Penal Code §32.01(2) defines “property” broadly to include tan gible or intangible property as well as money. Because the jury may not understand money to be “property,” the word “money” should be used if money is involved in the case.

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