§342P-24  Knowing endangerment. (a)  Any person who knowingly violates this chapter or any condition in apermit or variance issued under this chapter, and who knows at that time thatthe violation places another person in imminent danger of death or seriousbodily injury, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than $250,000 orimprisoned for not more than fifteen years, or both.

(b)  A person that is an organization, uponconviction of violating this section, shall be fined not more than $1,000,000.

(c)  For the purpose of this section, indetermining whether a defendant who is an individual knew that the individual’sconduct placed another person in imminent danger of death or serious bodilyinjury:

(1)  The person shall be responsible only for actualawareness or actual belief that the person possessed; and

(2)  Knowledge possessed by a person other than thedefendant but not by the defendant, may not be attributed to the defendant,except that in proving the defendant’s possession of actual knowledge,circumstantial evidence may be used, including evidence that the defendant tookaffirmative steps to shield himself or herself from relevant information.

(d)  It shall be an affirmative defense toprosecution that the conduct charged was consented to by the person endangeredand that the danger and conduct charged were reasonably foreseeable hazards of:

(1)  An occupation, a business, or a profession; or

(2)  Medical treatment or medical or scientificexperimentation conducted by professionally-approved methods and the otherperson had been made aware of the risks involved prior to giving consent; andsuch defense may be established under this section by a preponderance of theevidence.

(e)  As used in this section:

“Organization” means a legal entity, other thana government, established or organized for any purpose.  The term includes acorporation, company, association, firm, partnership, joint stock company,foundation, institution, trust, society, union, or any other association ofpersons.

“Serious bodily injury” means bodily injurythat involves a substantial risk of death, unconsciousness, extreme physicalpain, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment ofthe function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty. [L 1991, c 219, ptof §1; am L 1998, c 242, §12]