The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that hiring a hit man does not legally constitute a crime of violence, even when the contracted killing is successfully carried out and the employer is convicted of conspiracy. The decision, issued last week by a unanimous three-judge panel, overturned two felony convictions tied to a pair of contract murders linked to an oil well dispute in North Dakota.

The case involved James Henrikson, a trucking and drilling businessman, who hired Timothy Suckow to carry out violent attacks resulting in the death of one employee and the shooting of a co-investor at their home. Although Henrikson paid tens of thousands of dollars to arrange the attacks, the court found that soliciting such crimes does not meet the statutory definition of a crime of violence under federal law, even if fatal force ensues.

The judges emphasized the importance of mens rea, or “guilty mind,” in distinguishing between crimes like premeditated murder and unintentional manslaughter. The federal solicitation statute under scrutiny does not require proof that the hired killer intended to cause death—only that death occurred as a result of steps taken by the person commissioning the crime. The court illustrated this with a hypothetical scenario in which someone lures a victim into a car and negligently causes a fatal crash, which could still meet the criteria for solicitation under the statute.

The ruling directly contrasts with a 2021 decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that a defendant who conspires with the specific intent to order a murder and causes death acted with the requisite intent to satisfy the crime of violence definition. The 9th Circuit rejected this reasoning, citing a later Supreme Court decision that weakened the logic used in the 4th Circuit’s ruling by cautioning against inferring intent for one criminal element based solely on intent related to another.

Prior to this, a lower court had already dismissed two related convictions because other contract killings Henrikson commissioned were never carried out. While the appellate decision could reduce Henrikson’s legal exposure, it will not affect his current incarceration. Henrikson is serving two consecutive life sentences for other convictions related to the same series of criminal activities.

The ruling highlights a growing divide among federal appeals courts on the interpretation of what constitutes a crime of violence in solicitation and conspiracy cases, with potential implications for similar prosecutions nationwide.