Crim Law Flashcards
Regulatory Offense
The crime in question is a regulatory offense. Such offenses, particularly when public health or safety is concern, are usually strict-liability offenses that do not require a specific mens rea.
Accomplice Liability
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. The accomplice’s assistance to the principal may be verbal encouragement, financial assistance, or physical assistance, provided that the accomplice has the requisite intent to encourage or assist in the commission of the crime. An accomplice is responsible for the crime to the same extent as the principal. If the principal commits crimes other than the crimes for which the accomplice has provided encouragement or assistance, an accomplice is liable for the other crimes if they are the natural and probable consequences of the accomplice’s conduct.
Merger
an underlying felony will generally merge into the crime of felony murder. In this case, the robbery conviction would merge into the felony murder conviction.
under the doctrine of merger. Rather, the battery would merge into the more serious crime of robbery.?
I don’t understand merger.
Larceny by Trick
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.
Wharton Rule
Under the Wharton Rule, if a crime requires two or more participants (e.g., adultery) there is no conspiracy unless more parties than are necessary to complete the crime agree to commit the crime.
Wharton Rule
Under the Wharton Rule, if a crime requires two or more participants (e.g., adultery) there is no conspiracy unless more parties than are necessary to complete the crime agree to commit the crime.
Attempt in Common Law
An attempt requires a specific intent to commit a criminal act coupled with a substantial step taken toward the commission of the intended crime. At common law, once the defendant has taken a substantial step toward the commission of the offense, the defendant may not legally abandon the attempt to commit the crime because of a change of heart. Upon the completion of a substantial step, the crime of attempt is completed; there can be no abandonment or withdrawal.
Factual Impossibility and Attempts
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.
Felony Murder and Duress
A defendant charged with felony murder may claim duress as a defense to the underlying felony and avoid conviction for felony murder
Conspiracy and single trial?
At common law, a conspirator cannot be convicted of conspiracy if all other conspirators are acquitted at the same trial, because there must be more than one conspirator to have a conspiracy.
Foreseeability and Merger. Fuck Merger
To prove a homicide, the prosecution must show that the defendant was the actual and proximate cause of the victim’s death. If the victim would not have died but for the defendant’s act, then the defendant’s act is the actual cause of the killing. To prove proximate cause, the death must be foreseeable. A defendant’s conduct is deemed to be foreseeable if death is the natural and probable result of the conduct. Actions by a third party (e.g., negligence by the doctor treating the victim) are generally foreseeable. In this case, the boss’s wife was the actual and proximate cause of the colleague’s death, and thus would be guilty of murder of the colleague. Although the crimes of murder and attempted murder would usually merge, they only merge as to the same person.
Larceny and Attempt. Ugh
he gardener is guilty of larceny because he took and carried away the property of the garden center with the intent to steal. Mistake of fact is only a defense if it negates the defendant’s state of mind. Therefore, the gardener’s mistaken belief that he was stealing a more valuable kind of heirloom parsley is not a defense because it did not negate his intent to steal. Additionally, even though surplus parsley plants from the greenhouse were being given away for free, the plants on display in the store were not. Therefore, the gardener has committed a larceny regardless of whether he saw the sign because he was unlawfully taking the property of the garden center with the intent to permanently deprive the store of the parsley plants.
Consent
Fraudulent conduct does not negate consent in most situations.
robbery vs. Larceny
Robbery is larceny from the person or presence of the victim by force or intimidation. Larceny is the trespassory taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with the intent to permanently deprive the person of the property.
Seriously fuck crime law
Essay answer for Mental Insanity
In the majority of jurisdictions, the defendant has the burden of proving insanity. The level of proof required in this jurisdiction is a preponderance of the evidence. Insanity includes mental abnormalities that may affect legal responsibility.
Depraved Heart vs Involuntary Mansalughter
In most states, a killing that results from reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life is a depraved-heart murder. Involuntary manslaughter is an unintentional homicide committed with criminal negligence or during an unlawful act. Criminal negligence is grossly negligent action that puts another person at a significant risk of serious bodily injury or death. It requires more than ordinary tort negligence, but less than the conduct required for depraved-heart murder. Under the Model Penal Code, the defendant must have acted recklessly, which is a “gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a law-abiding person would observe in the actor’s situation,” and must have been actually aware of the risk his conduct posed.
Murder and Intent to Commit Seriously Bodily Injury
At common law, a defendant could be convicted of murder not only for an intentional killing, but also for causing another’s death by actions intended to cause serious bodily injury short of death.
Conspiracy and proof of evidence?
A conviction of conspiracy requires proof of an agreement to commit a crime and, in some jurisdictions or under some statutes, proof of an overt act in furtherance of the agreement. The conspiratorial agreement need not be proven through direct evidence, as long as the circumstantial evidence taken in the light most favorable to the prosecution is sufficient to allow a rational jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a conspiratorial agreement.
Accomplice Liability Maj or Min
at common law, 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. By modern statute, however, and in a majority of jurisdictions (including the jurisdiction here), an accomplice may be convicted of a crime even if the principal is not tried, is not convicted, has been given immunity from prosecution, or is acquitted.
Do you have to actually aid in accomplice liability?
Yes. The girlfriend is guilty as an accomplice because she provided aid to the man with the intent of helping him break into the shed and steal the mower; the fact that the man ultimately used an alternative means to accomplish his crimes does not eliminate the girlfriend’s accomplice liability.
Kidnapping and Movement during another crime
One of the elements of kidnapping is the perpetrator must hide the victim for a substantial period of time or move the victim at least a short distance. If the kidnapping occurs incident to another crime (e.g., robbery), then the movement must be more than is necessary for the commission of that crime in order for the perpetrator to be liable for both kidnapping and the separate offense.
Conspiracy Withdrawal. I need to know this better
Conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to accomplish an unlawful purpose with the intent to accomplish that purpose. The majority rule requires an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. Under the majority rule, withdrawal is possible between the date of the agreement and the commission of the overt act. Upon completion of the overt act, the conspiracy is formed and withdrawal is no longer possible. In this case, the conspiracy was complete when the sister purchased the gun and laid in wait for the husband, and thus her later actions were insufficient to withdraw from the conspiracy. An attempt requires a specific intent to commit a criminal act coupled with a substantial step taken toward the commission of the intended crime, which fails to be completed. Certain acts, such as lying in wait for the victim or possessing materials required for the crime, may constitute a substantial step if they corroborate the defendant’s criminal purpose. In this case, the sister purchased a gun and then waited in the garage to shoot the husband, and thus completed a substantial step toward murder.
False Pretenses and Forgery
False pretenses requires obtaining title to the property of another person through the reliance of that person on a known false representation of a material past or present fact, and the representation is made with the intent to defraud. Here, the apprentice made a false representation about who created the sculpture with the intent to cause a person to pay a higher amount of money for the sculpture than would have been paid if the person knew that the apprentice made the sculpture. This material misrepresentation induced the buyer at the auction to transfer $75,000 to the apprentice. Thus, the apprentice is guilty of false pretenses, and answer choices B and D are incorrect. Forgery is the making of a false writing with apparent legal significance and with the intent to defraud. Making includes creating, altering, or fraudulently inducing another to sign a document when that person is unaware of the significance of the document. Here, the apprentice used a document to authenticate her sculpture as that of the deceased sculptor. However, the apprentice made no changes to the document.
Depraved Heart murder vs felony murder
In this jurisdiction, all murders that do not fall into the categories of first or third degree are murders in the second degree. The student’s actions in firing a gun in the classroom showed a wanton and willful disregard of an unreasonable risk to human life, which amounts to a depraved heart killing.
