In other circumstances, defendants might not have a realistic hope of acquittal but may nevertheless use the trial as a forum for expressing political views.
The form that a political defense will take depends on its objective, audience, message, legal theory, and tactics.
However, where the objective is to attract and influence public opinion, the message that is most likely to succeed is not necessarily the same as the political view that principally motivated the defendants.
Each of these defenses requires that the defendant show that their actions were mitigating or preventing some greater harm or some other illegal conduct.
In order to prove this defense, the defendants will be able to submit evidence and witness testimony describing their motivations or communicating other political messages.
Mens rea refers to the mental state that is required in order to be found guilty of the offense.
When charged with this kind of crime, defendants will be permitted to testify in detail about the political views that motivated their action.
What makes a legal theory a "shadow defense" is that the defendant does not expect to be successful as a matter of law; it is, instead, a pretext for bringing information into the court that would otherwise be irrelevant and therefore inadmissible.