Mr. Bacanovic's lawyers called the government's failure to verify Mr. Stewart's statements "willful blindness and a conscious disregard for the truth."

"They didn't do it," Mr. Michelman said, "and their not doing it raises issues of conscious disregard."

"In every single one of these incidents, Mr Spector demonstrates conscious disregard for human life."

Finally, he said, punitive damages are available only when a party acts with intentional malice or with conscious disregard for the rights of others.

A person acts recklessly when the person displays a deliberate indifference or conscious disregard to the consequences of that person's conduct.

Neither will I. "Wasting lives through carelessness, thoughtlessness, or conscious disregard of the principles which have guided our Corps throughout its history cannot be countenanced," the Commandant said.

"There does not have to be an intent to kill, just a conscious disregard of the risk, knowing it's wrong but doing it anyway."

The issue now before the judge is whether Hooker should be assessed punitive damages of another $250 million for what state lawyers say was a "conscious disregard" of risks.

The decorating is artfully understated with a conscious disregard for provenance.

The women had all had guns pointed at them, often at their faces, Mr Jackson said, demonstrating Spector's "conscious disregard for human life".