Mens rea is the term used to refer to someone who commits an act of crime. This means that someone intended to do the act. For example, if someone sleepwalks and commits a crime it is not a crime. This is going to be an easier case to present in court. In the instance that one acted out of guilt in their mind and committed the crime in a way that was imprudent, it’s going be difficult to argue before a judge. A different example is if you were to hit someone else with the car in an accident. There is a chance that you could have caused them harm, but you did not act with an unrepentant mind. This is the main difference between murder of the first degree and second degree. First degree is a term used to describe the person who has guilt and commits an act of committing a criminal act. An attempt is when you did have a guilt-based mind however, did not really commit the crime. There are a lot of criminals. A lot of people are criminals. As a lawyer representing defenses one must be certain that you’ve all the truth from the person you are protecting. x8ln1c3t1c.