Crim Law

Question 1

Mens Rea - Specific Intent

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Mens rea - General intent

Answer 2

D must be aware of his actions and likely results

Question 3

Mens rea - Malice

Answer 3

D acts with reckless disregard or undertakes an obvious risk, from which a harmful result is expected – applies to arson and common law murder

Question 4

Strict liability crimes

Answer 4

No intent or awareness required for strict liability crimes - Statutory rape, regulatory, or morality crimes

Question 5

MPC fault standards

Answer 5

• 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

Question 6

Transferred intent

Answer 6

Applies to battery, homicide, and arson

Question 7

Accomplice

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Solicitation

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Attempt

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Conspiracy

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Withdrawal

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Murder

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Felony murder

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Voluntary manslaughter

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Involuntary Manslaughter

Answer 15

Killing committed with criminal negligence (or MPC recklessness) or during the commission of an unlawful act not constituting felony murder

Question 16

Assault

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Battery

Answer 17

An unlawful application of force to person of another resulting in bodily injury / offensive touching

Question 18

Rape

Answer 18

Unlawful carnal knowledge of a person without effective consent – the slightest penetration is sufficient to complete the crime

Question 19

False imprisonment

Answer 19

The unlawful confinement of a person without their consent

Question 20

Kidnapping

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Larceny

Answer 21

(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

Question 22

Embezzlement

Answer 22

Fraudulent conversion of another’s personal property by one in lawful possession

Question 23

False pretenses

Answer 23

Obtaining title to another’s property using false statements of past or existing fact, with intent to defraud

Question 24

Larceny by trick

Answer 24

Obtaining possession of another’s personal property using false statements of past or existing fact

Question 25

Forgery

Answer 25

Creating or altering a written document with purported legal significance to be false, with the intent to defraud

Question 26

Robbery

Answer 26

(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

Question 27

Extortion

Answer 27

Obtaining property through threats of future harm or exposing information

Question 28

Receipt of Stolen Prop

Answer 28

(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

Question 29

Burglary

Answer 29

(1) Trespassory breaking and entering
(2) the dwelling house of another
(3) with the intent to commit a felony therein

Question 30

Arson

Answer 30

the malicious burning of the property of another. Must be charring or something more.

Question 31

Insanity defenses

Answer 31

• 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

Question 32

Self defense

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Necessity

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Duress

Answer 34

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.

Question 35

Mistake of Fact

Answer 35

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