Crim Law

Question 1

Specific Intent Crimes

Answer 1

FIAT: 
First Degree Murder
Inchoate (CATS) - conspiracy; attempt; solicitation
Assault with attempt to commit battery
Theft

Question 2

Defense to Strict Liability

Answer 2

D acted involuntary

Question 3

Voluntary Intoxication Defense for Mens Rea

Answer 3

Voluntary intoxication can be a defense to a specific-intent crime, if the intoxication prevents the formation of the required intent.

Voluntary intoxication cannot be a defense when the defendant becomes intoxicated for the purpose of establishing the defense of voluntary intoxication.

Voluntary intoxication is not a defense to strict-liability crimes.

Question 4

General Intent Crimes

Answer 4

General intent crimes require only the intent to perform the act that is unlawful.

Question 5

Assisted Suicide

Answer 5

Providing a person with the means by which that person can commit suicide generally does not make the provider guilty of murder as an accomplice but instead guilty of a lesser crime, such as assisting a suicide.

D must have assisted the victim in killing herself, rather than being an actor and providing more than a means.

Question 6

Larceny by Trick

Answer 6

A defendant is guilty of larceny by trick if she obtains possession (but not title) to property owned by another through fraud or deceit, with the intent to permanently deprive the victim of that property, resulting in the conversion of the property.

Question 7

Embezzlement

Answer 7

The fraudulent; conversion;
of the property;
of another;
by a person who is in lawful possession of the property.

Embezzlement requires that a defendant have lawful possession of the property of another when forming the intent to defraud.

Question 8

Common Law Conspiracy

Answer 8

At common law, to be guilty for a conspiracy, there must have been an agreement between two parties. When only one conspirator has the intent to agree, such as when the other conspirator is a governmental agent there is no conspiracy, unless another participant is involved.

Question 9

Wharton Rule

Answer 9

If a crime requires two or more participants, there is no conspiracy unless more parties are necessary to complete the crime agree to commit the crime.

Question 10

MPC Conspiracy

Answer 10

The MPC requires the commission of an overt act, legal or illegal, in furtherance of the conspiracy to complete the formation of conspiracy.

Unilateral conspiracy is formed under the MPC as only one party is required to actually agree.

Question 11

Factual Impossibility

Answer 11

A factual impossibility occurs when, at the time of the attempt, the facts make the intended crime impossible to commit although the defendant is unaware of this when the attempt is made. However, factual impossibility is not a defense to the crime of attempt.

Question 12

Mistake of Fact

Answer 12

A mistake of fact is a defense to a specific-intent crime, even if the mistake is unreasonable, because it negates the element of mens rea.

Question 13

GA: Merger of Lesser-Included Offenses

Answer 13

An offense established by proof of the same facts as are required for the greater crime

An offense that differs from the greater only by the severity of the injury caused or loss amount

An offense established by a lower mental state

Question 14

GA: Obstruction

Answer 14

In Georgia, it is a misdemeanor to knowingly and willfully obstruct a law enforcement officer in the performance of his duties. If violence is involved, becomes felony punishable by 1-5 years in prison.

Question 15

GA: Difference Between 1st and 2nd Degree Murder

Answer 15

The D need only intend to commit a forcible misdemeanor, not a forcible felony, for the D to commit a second degree home invasion.

Question 16

Accomplice Liability: Majority Approach

Answer 16

An accomplice to a crime can be convicted of the crime, even if he was not involved in the principal criminal actions, even if the principal is not tried, is not convicted, has been given immunity from prosecution, or is acquitted.

An accomplice is responsible for the crime to the same extent as the principal. An accomplice who is neither physically nor constructively present during the commission of the crime, but who possesses the requisite intent, is an accessory before the fact.

Under the majority and MPC rule, an accomplice is a person who, with the purpose of promoting or facilitating the commission of the offense, aids or abets a principal prior to or during the commission of the crime. However, a person is not guilty as an accomplice when that person’s action is itself an essential element of the crime. When the crime requires another party (i.e., the crime of distributing drugs requires a purchaser), the other party is not, simply by engaging in the criminal act, guilty of the crime as an accomplice.

Question 17

Accomplice Liability: Common Law Approach

Answer 17

An accomplice could be convicted of a crime only if the principal was also previously convicted of the crime. A small minority of jurisdictions still subscribe to this approach.

Question 18

Common Law Murder

Answer 18

unlawful killing of another human being committed with malice aforethought

Malice:

1. intent to kill
2. intent to inflict serious bodily harm
3. reckless indifference to the value of human life (depraved heart)
4. felony murder

Question 19

False Pretenses

Answer 19

False pretenses requires (i) obtaining title to the property (ii) of another person (iii) through the reliance of that person (iv) on a known false representation of a material past or present fact, and (v) the representation is made with the intent to defraud

Question 20

Felony Murder

Answer 20

An unintended killing proximately caused by and during the commission or attempted commission of an inherently dangerous felony.