Crimes Against the Person

Question 1

A homicide results when…

Answer 1

there is a killing of a human being caused by another human being (i.e., the defendant). A more complete way of stating the rule is that a criminal homicide results from some action or actions of the defendant that cause the death of another human being, with criminal intent, and without legal excuse or justification.

Question 2

At common law, murder is…

Answer 2

Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Malice aforethought exists if there are no facts reducing the killing to voluntary manslaughter or excusing it

Question 3

The actus reus for homicide…

Answer 3

May be a voluntary act, an involuntary act arising from a voluntary act (such as a person who has frequent seizures driving a car), or an omission to act where there is a legal duty to act.

Question 4

The mens rea for murder comprising the malice aforethought requirement falls into four categories…

Answer 4

(i) intent to kill;
(ii) intent to inflict great bodily injury;
(iii) reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life (abandoned and malignant heart); or
(iv) intent to commit a felony (felony murder).

Intentional use of a deadly weapon authorizes a permissive inference of intent to kill.

Question 5

Causation Element of Murder

Answer 5

The act must actually and proximately cause the death of another living person.

If an intervening cause kills the victim before the defendant can complete his act, he will be acquitted

Question 6

Intent to kill is

Answer 6

Conduct where the defendant consciously desires to kill another person or makes the resulting death inevitable (absent justification, excuse, or mitigation to voluntary manslaughter) constitutes an intent to kill.

Question 7

Serious bodily injury, also called “great bodily injury” or “grievous bodily injury,” means

Answer 7

Significant but nonfatal injury.

Intent-to-inflict-serious-bodily-injury malice, like intent-to-kill malice, can arise from a conscious desire or substantial certainty that the defendant’s actions will result in the victim’s injury.

Question 8

Depraved-heart murder, sometimes referred to as extreme
recklessness murder, is

Answer 8

an unintentional killing resulting from conduct involving a wanton indifference to human life and a conscious disregard of an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily injury.

Question 9

Felony murder is a killing

Answer 9

proximately caused during the commission or attempted commission of a serious or inherently dangerous felony.

B - Burglary

A - Arson

R - Robbery

R - Rape

K - Kidnapping

Question 10

Under the majority (agency theory) rule, there is no felony-murder liability when…

Answer 10

A non-felon causes the death. The agency theory posits that felony murder extends only when the killing is committed by one of the agents of the underlying felony.

Question 11

Under the minority rule, felony-murder charges can be

Answer 11

based on killings by non-felons, such as killings by victims of the crime, bystanders, and police officers.

Question 12

Redline Limitation on Felony Murder

Answer 12

Dead person must not be a felon.

Question 13

Exception for Non-Violence (Felony Murder - Minority)

Answer 13

Defendant must be violent - unarmed, unaware that violence would occur, and did not encourage the violence.

Question 14

First-degree murder includes

Answer 14

Intent-to-kill murder committed with premeditation and deliberation, felony murder, and, in some jurisdictions, murder accomplished by lying in wait, poison, terrorism, or torture.

Question 15

Second-degree murder is

Answer 15

Any murder that does not meet the requisite elements of first-degree murder.

Examples include:

a) where the defendant’s malice is intent to inflict serious bodily injury;
b) where the defendant acted with wanton and willful misconduct; or
c) felony murder, where the underlying felony is not specifically listed in an applicable first-degree murder statute.

Question 16

Voluntary manslaughter is

Answer 16

An intentional killing mitigated by adequate provocation or other circumstances negating malice aforethought.

Voluntary manslaughter is commonly called a heat-of-passion killing.

***Adequate Provocation - Reas. Person would lose self-control

Question 17

Imperfect self-defense may

Answer 17

mitigate murder to voluntary manslaughter where a defendant was either at fault in starting an altercation or unreasonably, but honestly, believed that harm was imminent or deadly force was necessary. Such mistaken justification has been applied to self-defense, defense of others, crime prevention, coercion, and necessity.

Question 18

Involuntary Manslaughter

Answer 18

An unintentional killing resulting without malice aforethought caused either by recklessness, criminal negligence, or during the commission or attempted commission of an unlawful act.

Question 19

Criminal battery is

Answer 19

the intentional, reckless, or criminally negligent unlawful application of force to the person of the victim.

Question 20

Intent Requirement for Criminal Battery

Answer 20

Criminal battery is a general intent crime; a defendant may be guilty of battery where he acts:

(1) recklessly;
(2) negligently; or
(3) with knowledge that his act (or omission) will result in criminal liability.

*Consent may be a defense

Question 21

Aggravated Battery:

Answer 21

(1) the defendant causing the victim serious bodily injury;
(2) the defendant using a deadly weapon to commit the battery; or
(3) the defendant battering a woman, child, or law enforcement officer.

Question 22

Assault is:

Answer 22

1 - Attempted Battery (Intent to committ battery)

2 - Intentionally causing the victim to fear an immidiate battery

Question 23

Ability to committ the battery:

Answer 23

Majority - Still guilty even if unable to consummate the battery

Minority - Must be able to committ the battery

Question 24

The fact that the victim was unaware of the attmepted battery is…

Answer 24

No defense.

Question 25

The threat of assault must be…(present vs. future)

Answer 25

Present.

Question 26

A simple assault may rise to the level of an aggravated assault under certain circumstances. Most commonly, the circumstances include:

Answer 26

(1) where the defendant commits an assault with a dangerous weapon; or
(2) where the defendant acts with the intent to seriously injure, rape, or murder the victim.

Question 27

False imprisonment is

Answer 27

the intentional, unlawful confinement of one person by another.

Question 28

The felony of mayhem at common law required

Answer 28

an intent to maim or do bodily injury, accompanied by an act that either:

a. dismembered the victim; or
b. disabled his use of some bodily part that was useful in fighting.

Question 29

At common law, kidnapping consists of

Answer 29

an unlawful restraint of a person’s liberty by force or show of force so as to send the victim into another country.

Under modern law, it suffices that the victim be taken to another location or concealed.

Question 30

At common law, Rape was…

Answer 30

The act of unlawful sexual intercourse by a male person with a female person without her consent. While penetration was required, emission was not.