Black Letter Law Flashcards
To reduce a charge of murder to voluntary manslaughter, the time for the defendant to “cool off” has ____ element(s), in that the reduction would be available ____.
both subjective and objective; if the defendant’s sudden and intense passions did not actually cool and the passions of a reasonable person would not have cooled between the time of the provocation and the time of the killing.
Common law arson is the ____.
malicious burning of the dwelling of another
Which of the following situations is not sufficient to treat common law battery as aggravated battery?
When the defendant intends to seriously injured the victim.
The intent to cause a serious injury is usually not, by itself, a basis to elevate a battery into an aggravated battery. However, if serious bodily injury is actually caused, most statues would classify the crime as an aggravated battery. Additionally, most statues elevate the battery to an aggravated battery when a deadly weapon is used.
- Also - Most statues classify a battery committed against certain classes of individuals (children, women, and police officers) as aggravated batteries.
The Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits imposition of cumulative punishments for two or more offenses that constitute the same crime under the Blockburger test unless:
They are intended to carry separate punishments and are imposed at the same trial.
A state ____ make the death penalty a mandatory sentence ____.
may never; for any crime
The mandatory imposition of the death penalty is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. A statutory scheme for imposing the death penalty must allow the fact finder to consider all mitigating circumstances (any aspect of the defendant’s character or any circumstances of him crime as a factor in mitigation). The death penalty cannot be imposed without consideration of mitigating circumstances, even for premeditated first degree murder.
When the defendant obtains title to the property of another, by an intentional (or knowing) false statement, with the intent to defraud, he commits:
false pretenses
Under the common law, the false statement had to be a false statement of past or existing fact.
Under the MPC and the modern prevailing view, the false statement need not be of a past or existing fact. (A future false promise to perform suffices.)
Substandard medical care is an “intervening act” that relieves a defendant from homicide liability if the medical care is ____ or ____.
grossly negligent; intentional mistreatment
As a general rule, an intervening act will shield the defendant from liability if the act is a mere coincidence or outside the foreseeable sphere of risk created by the defendant’s acts. Acts by a third party, such as the provision of substandard medical care, depend on how poor the medical care was.
Negligent medical care is deemed to be within the foreseeable sphere of risk created by the defendant.
Most jurisdictions consider the victim’s refusal of medical care for religious reasons to be within the foreseeable sphere of risk created by the defendant.
In which of the following situations would the defendant have a valid defense to attempt in most jurisdictions?
The acts he was attempting to commit would not constitute a crime under any set of circumstances.
This is legal impossibility, which is a valid defense to attempt in most jurisdictions.
Under the MPC, withdrawal will be a defense if it is fully voluntary and not made because of the difficulty of completing the crime or because of an increased risk of apprehension, and it is a complete abandonment of the plan made under circumstances manifesting a renunciation of criminal purpose, not just a decision to postpone committing it or to find another victim.
Which of the following could be the subject of common law forgery?
A writing with apparent legal significance.
Forgery consists of the making or altering of a false writing with the intent to defraud.
The defense of entrapment consists of two elements:
(i) the criminal design must have originated with law enforcement officers; and (ii) the defendant must not have been predisposed to commit the crime prior to the initial contact by the government.
An entrapment defense will fail if the government merely provides the defendant with the opportunity to commit the crime.
The constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy prohibits ____.
a person from being tried for the same conduct by both a state and one of its municipalities
A person MAY be tried for the same conduct by both a state and the federal government.
Which of the following police actions most likely constitutes a search for Fourth Amendment purposes?
use of thermal imager to photograph the inside of defendant’s home
Fraud as to ____, ____, and ___ are insufficient to establish the “without consent” requirement for rape.
whether the defendant is the victim’s husband; the defendant’s intent to marry the victim; the defendant’s profession or identity
If a suspect invokes his right to remain silent, the police may:
reinitiate questioning only if they scrupulously honor the request to remain silent
The Supreme Court has allowed the police to reinitiate questioning where: (i) the police ceased questioning immediately upon the detainee’s request and did not resume questioning for several hours; (ii) the detainee was given a fresh set of Miranda warnings; and (iii) the questioning was limited to a crime that was not the subject of the earlier questioning.
An assault may be committed by:
attempting to commit a battery
An assault is either an attempt to commit an offense touching (battery), or the intentional creation, other than by mere words, of a reasonable apprehension the mind of the victim of imminent bodily harm.
The elements of conspiracy at common law include:
an agreement between two or more persons, the intent to enter into an agreement, and the intent to achieve the objective of the agreement
Border searches for illegal aliens:
(a) Border officials may stop an automobile at a fixed checkpoint at the U.S. border for questioning of the occupants even without a reasonable suspicion that the automobile contains illegal aliens.
(b) A roving patrol inside the U.S. border may stop any automobile for questioning of the occupants if the officer reasonably suspects that the automobile may contain illegal aliens.
Liability for felony murder ends when:
the felon reaches a place of temporary safety
Most states elevate the crime of kidnapping to aggravated kidnapping when ____.
the victim is a child (or when the victim is held for ransom or the kidnapping is committed in furtherance of another crime)
For reducing murder to manslaughter, the provocation must ____.
raise a sudden and intense passion in the mind of an ordinary person and the defendant must have in fact been provided
The provocation requirement for voluntary manslaughter has both ____. The provocation must be such that ____.
objective and subjective elements; an ordinary person would have been provoked, and the defendant must have been so provoked
In order to satisfy the “burning” requirement for common law arson:
charring to the structure is sufficient; scorching is insufficient
For mistake of fact, the mistake must ____.
negate the defendant’s required state of mind
If a defendant does not have the required state of mind (mens rea) he cannot be convicted of the crime.
If jeopardy has attached, a defendant may not be retried if ____.
the defendant’s conviction was reversed for insufficient evidence
For Miranda purposes, a person may be in custody in ____.
his own home
Whether a person is in custody depends on whether his freedom of action is denied in a significant way. This is an objective test - whether a reasonable person under the circumstances would think that he is in custody.
When is the duress defense available at common law?
When the defendant commits a crime other than homicide in order to prevent death or imminent bodily harm to himself or another.
The crime of solicitation is complete when ____.
the solicitation is made
The following defenses are available to both general and specific intent crimes:
involuntary intoxication, insanity and mistake of fact
____ is available as a defense to a specific intent crime only.
voluntary intoxication
The defense may be used to show that a defendant was unable to form the requisite intent due to intoxication.
An ____ is a defense to a specific intent crime only.
unreasonable mistake of fact
In most jurisdictions, deadly force may be used in the following situations:
self-defense, defense of others, and crime prevention
Which of the following can be the subject of larceny?
natural gas or electricity
If the agreements have ____ and it is established that ____, the series of crimes committed will be considered separate conspiracies.
one common member; any subagreements are reasonably independent of each other
The minimum number of jurors that can fulfill the Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury is:
six
Under what circumstances is a defendant accused of an interracial crime entitled to question prospective jurors on potential racial bias?
in capital cases only
An immigration officer may search a vehicle for illegal aliens without probable cause for the search:
at the border or its functional equivalent only
A ____ must be sworn in before invoking the privilege, but a ____ may refuse to take the stand.
(invocation of the privilege against self-incrimination)
witness; criminal defendant
____ may not execute a search warrant.
private citizens (only police may execute a warrant)
