Intent is a mental attitude with which an individual acts, and therefore it cannot ordinarily be directly proved but must be inferred from surrounding facts and circumstances. Intent refers only to the state of mind with which the act is done or omitted. It differs from motive, which is what prompts a person to act or to fail to act.
Derrick Todd Lee has been sentenced to death for the first degree murder of LSU grad student Charlotte Murray Pace. It took the jury that convicted Lee for Pace's murder 93 minutes to unanimously decide Lee's fate. Lee is now at Angola State Penitentiary.
Rapper Lil Boosie has been found not guilty of first degree murder ... stemming from the shooting death of a 35-year-old man back in 2009. Boosie was accused of ordering a hit on the victim ... but after the jury deliberated for roughly 90 minutes, they decided Boosie was not guilty. Boosie -- who was tried in Baton Rouge, LA -- could have faced life in prison if convicted.