Presumption of culpable mental state shifts burden to accused to prove absence of intent as defence in prosecutions.

The court presumes that an accused possessed the requisite culpable mental state in prosecutions for offences requiring such a state, but it is a defence for the accused to prove they lacked that mental state with respect to the charged act. Culpable mental state includes intention, motive, knowledge of a fact, and belief in or reason to believe a fact, and a fact is proved only when the court believes it exists beyond reasonable doubt, not by a mere preponderance of probability.

---

---

---