Crim Law Flashcards
Mens Rea - Specific Intent
D must have a specific intent or objective to commit the given crime – think FIAT
* First degree murder
* Inchoate offenses (conspiracy, attempt, solicitation)
* Assault
* Theft offenses (larceny, larceny by trick, burglary, forgery, robbery, false pretenses, and embezzlement)
Voluntary intoxication is a defense to these crimes
Mens rea - General intent
D must be aware of his actions and likely results
Mens rea - Malice
D acts with reckless disregard or undertakes an obvious risk, from which a harmful result is expected – applies to arson and common law murder
Strict liability crimes
No intent or awareness required for strict liability crimes - Statutory rape, regulatory, or morality crimes
MPC fault standards
- Purposely (subjective std) – conscious objective is to engage in certain conduct or cause a certain result
- Knowingly (subjective std) – aware that his conduct is of a particular nature or knows that his conduct will necessarily or very likely cause a particular result
- Recklessly (subjective std) – knows of a substantial and unjustifiable risk and consciously disregards it
- Negligence (objective std) – fails to become aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk
Transferred intent
Applies to battery, homicide, and arson
Accomplice
The party must (1) aid, counsel, or encourage principal before or during the crime, (2) with the intent to assist the principal AND that the principal commit the crime
– Can avoid liability by withdrawing from a crime before the principal commits it
Solicitation
Inciting, urging, or otherwise asking another to commit a crime with the intent that they commit the crime
-Merges with the target offense. If solicitee agrees, it gives rise to conspiracy = merges with the conspiracy
- Defenses – MPC allows renunciation as a defense, but common law does not
Attempt
An act, done with the specific intent to commit a crime, that constitutes an overt or substantial step towards committing the crime but falls short of completing the crime
- Defenses – legal impossibility is a defense. Abandonment is a defense in MPC jdxs
Conspiracy
An agreement between two or more people w intent to enter into the agreement and intent to commit the crime. MPC also requires an overt act in furtherance.
- At common law, two or more people must have criminal intent, but MPC allows only one party
- Co-conspirator liability – each conspirator is liable for co-conspirators’ crimes that are (1) foreseeable and (2) committed in furtherance of the conspiracy
Withdrawal
MPC allows withdrawal if the party thwarts the conspiracy. Withdrawal does limit liability for subsequent crimes – req. an affirmative act that notifies his co-conspirators he is withdrawing w/ enough time for co-conspirators to abandon plans
Murder
the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought
– Malice aforethought includes
- Intent to kill
-Intent to inflict great bodily injury
- Depraved/malignant heart – killing committed with reckless indifference to an unjustifiable risk of human life
- felony murder
D’s act must be both the actual and proximate cause of the victim’s death > Any act by D hastening the victim’s death, even if already inevitable, is considered a cause
Felony murder
killing caused during the attempt or commission of an inherently dangerous or statutorily enumerated felony. Requires intent to commit the underlying felony. BARRK
- Burglary
- Arson
- Robbery
- Rape
- Kidnapping
Voluntary manslaughter
A killing resulting from an adequate provocation (heat of passion) or imperfect self-defense
- Adequate provocation – req. that
(1) the provocation would cause sudden and intense passion in an ordinary person,
(2) D was in fact provoked,
(3) there was insufficient time for an ordinary person to cool off and
(4) D did not, in fact, cool off
- Imperfect self-defense – if D murders while acting in self-defense, his criminal liability can be reduced to voluntary manslaughter if either D initiated the altercation, or D unreasonably believed deadly force was necessary
Involuntary Manslaughter
Killing committed with criminal negligence (or MPC recklessness) or during the commission of an unlawful act not constituting felony murder
Assault
two theories under CL
- Assault as threat – Intentional creation of victim’s reasonable apprehension of imminent bodily harm
- Assault as an attempted battery – specific intent crime
Battery
An unlawful application of force to person of another resulting in bodily injury / offensive touching
Rape
Unlawful carnal knowledge of a person without effective consent – the slightest penetration is sufficient to complete the crime
False imprisonment
The unlawful confinement of a person without their consent
Kidnapping
The unlawful confinement of a person that involves either some movement of the victim, or concealment of the victim in an unknown, hidden, or secret location
Larceny
(1) The taking and carrying away
(2) of another’s tangible personal property
(3) without consent and
(4) with the intent to permanently dispossess the person of the property
Embezzlement
Fraudulent conversion of another’s personal property by one in lawful possession
False pretenses
Obtaining title to another’s property using false statements of past or existing fact, with intent to defraud
Larceny by trick
Obtaining possession of another’s personal property using false statements of past or existing fact
Forgery
Creating or altering a written document with purported legal significance to be false, with the intent to defraud
Robbery
(1) Wrongful taking
(2) of another’s personal property from his person or presence
(3) by force or threat of injury,
(4) with the intent to permanently deprive
Extortion
Obtaining property through threats of future harm or exposing information
Receipt of Stolen Prop
(1) receiving possession or control
(2) of stolen personal prop
(3) known to have been stolen by another
(4) with the intent to permanently deprive
Burglary
(1) Trespassory breaking and entering
(2) the dwelling house of another
(3) with the intent to commit a felony therein
Arson
the malicious burning of the property of another. Must be charring or something more.
Insanity defenses
- M’Naghten - At the time of the offense D lacked the ability to know the wrongfulness of his conduct or understand the nature and quality of his act
- Irresistible Impulse – D was unable to control his actions or conform his conduct to the law
- MPC – D lacked the capacity to either appreciate the criminality of his conduct or conform his conduct to the requirements of the law
- Durham – but for his mental illness, D would not have acted
Self defense
Non-deadly force may be used if they reasonably believe it necessary to protect from imminent unlawful force
Deadly force – may be used if D is
(1) not at fault,
(2) confronted with unlawful force, that
(3) D reasonably believes threatens imminent death or great bodily harm
Self-defense by an initial aggressor is only available if they effectively withdraw before the need for self-defense arises or the victim suddenly escalates a minor dispute into a deadly altercation
Necessity
D believed his conduct was reasonably necessary to avoid an imminent and greater injury to society. Not available if the crime committed results in the death of another
Duress
D committed the crime under reasonable belief that the crime was necessary to prevent death or serious bodily harm to D or a member of D’s family. Not a defense to intentional homicide.
Mistake of Fact
If defendant is charged with specific intent crime and defendant’s mistake negates his state of mind, he has a complete defense to the crime
* Any mistake of fact, reasonable or unreasonable, may be a defense to a specific intent crime
* For malice and general intent crimes, the mistake must be reasonable
