Criminal Law Flashcards
What law to apply on the exam?
Apply the majority rule (often the modern rule or CL rule if no modern majority rule); apply the MPC only if asked (minority rule).
General Principles –> Constitutional Issues: Void-for-Vagueness Doctrine
Under DPC of 5A and 14A: People must be on notice that certain conduct is forbidden.
–> SCOTUS: criminal statutes must be specific and give a person of ordinary intelligence “fair notice” of what conduct is prohibited.
Void for Vagueness Doctrine
–> Requires statutes to be fair and consistent in their enforcement and not be arbitrarily or erratically enforced.
General Principles –> Constitutional Issues: Ex Post Facto (3 scenarios)
EPF laws forbidden. EPF law retroactively:
(1) makes conduct criminal;
(2) enforces a stricter punishment for the same conduct; or
(3) alters procedural or evidentiary rules in such a way that the criminal D may be more easily convicted.
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: 3 (Sometimes 4) Elements of Pros Case
Prosecution must prove:
(1) Actus reus (guilty act)
(2) Mens rea (guilty mind)
(3) Concurrence in time between act and requisite state of mind
(4) Some (but not most) crimes require the occurrence of a result for the crime to be complete (ex: homicide requires victim die)
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: Actus Reus (2 Scenarios) / Liability for Omission
Element Met By:
(1) a voluntary act that causes an unlawful result;
–> Acts that are reflexive, convulsive, performed while.
unconscious, or otherwise involuntary are insufficient,
as are mere bad thoughts unaccompanied by action.
————> However, habitual acts that one is
simply unaware of are conscious and voluntary.
(2) an omission to act where the D is under a legal duty to act; or
A D may be criminally liable for an omission when:
(1) there is a legal duty to act; and
(2) the D can physically perform the act
(3) vicarious liability where the D is responsible for the acts of another party.
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: Mens Rea - 5 Mental States
Intentionally
–> D desires that acts cause certain consequences or knows that acts are substantially certain to produce those consequences.
Knowingly
–> D knows the nature and/or result of his conduct; lack of knowledge can often excuse criminal liability under defense of mistake of fact.
Purposely
–> There exists a conscious objective to engage in such conduct or to cause such a result.
Recklessly
- -> D consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element exists or will result from his conduct.
- -> Risk must be of a nature/degree that its disregard involves a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a law-abiding person would observe in the D’s situation
Willfully
–> Encompasses concepts of intentionally and purposely (as opposed to accidentally or negligently) and has been used to imply evil purpose in crimes involving moral turpitude.
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: Mens Rea - Criminal Negligence
Requires D’s conduct create a high degree of risk of death or serious injury.
–> Degree of risk is more than mere ordinary neg, but less than wanton and willful misconduct.
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: Mens Rea - Specific Intent Crime + 2 ways to show
SIC involves more than the objective fault required by merely doing the proscribed actus reus.
D possesses SI if:
(1) he wants, hopes, or wishes that his conduct will bring about a particular result, regardless of the objective likelihood of the result occurring (unless the result is inherently impossible)
(2) he expects (is substantially certain) that his purposeful act will have that particular result, even though he does not necessarily want a particular result
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: Mens Rea - General Intent Crime
GIC requires commission of an unlawful act (ie nonconsensual intercourse) without a specific mens rea.
- -> A bad state of mind will suffice where such a criminal act is committed voluntarily and purposely.
- -> Neg/recklessness sufficient mental state for GIC (AKA criminal neg/gross neg/culpable neg).
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: Mens Rea - Malice
D acts intentionally or with reckless disregard of an obvious or known risk that the particular harmful result will occur
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: Mens Rea - Strict Liability
Culpability is imposed on a D merely for doing the act that is prohibited by statute.
–> No particular mental state is required for at least some element of a SL crime
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: Mens Rea - Transferred Intent Doctrine
Preserves liability where a D intends criminal conduct against one party but instead harms another party, so that his actions bring about an unintended, yet still criminal, result.
–> Applies only to completed crimes, not attempt crimes
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: Mens Rea - Classifications of Crimes Examples
SIC examples: attempt, solicitation, conspiracy, larceny, larceny by trick, false pretenses, embezzlement, forgery, burglary, assault, robbery, intent to kill murder, voluntary manslaughter
GIC examples: battery, rape, kidnapping, FI, invol mansla, DH murder
Malicious Crimes: arson, CL murder
SL Crimes: regulatory offenses, public welfare offenses, morality crimes, selling liquor to minors
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: Concurrence in Time
It is not only necessary that D’s criminal intent occur at time he commits the criminal act, but that the mental state should also actuate (or put into action) the act or omission.
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: Occurrence of a Result - Actual Cause 3 Tests
The D’s conduct must be both the actual and the proximate cause of the specified criminal result.
Actual Cause (cause in fact) satisfied by any of 3 tests:
(1) if the criminal result would not have occurred absent D’s act
(2) when there are multiple causes/other parties responsible for criminal result, cts will find a D responsible if the D’s act was a substantial factor causing the criminal result; or
(3) where a D’s conduct speeds up an inevitable death, even by a very brief amount of time
General Principles –> Elements of Crimes: Intervening Cause (dependent v independent)
To relieve the D of liability and break the chain of PC, the other force must be a superseding intervening cause.
–> Question: whether the intervening force is dependent on or independent of the D’s act.
Dependent intervening cause
- -> an intervening force that is a result of or response to the D’s act is a dependent intervening cause.
- -> will supersede the D’s act only when it is a totally abnormal response to the D’s act
Independent intervening cause
- -> an independent intervening cause is one that would have occurred regardless of the D’s act.
- -> will normally supersede the D’s act, EXCEPT when the independent intervening force was foreseeable
Crimes Against the Person –> Homicide: Definition
Results when there is a killing of a human being caused by another human being (D).
–> Results from some action or actions of the D that cause the death of another human being, with criminal intent, and without legal excuse or justification
Crimes Against the Person –> Homicide: Murder (+ 3 reqs)
Definition
–> The unlawful killing of a human being w/ malice aforethought.
Requirements
Actus reus
–> A voluntary act, an involuntary act arising from a voluntary act (seizure prone person driving car), or an omission to act where there is a legal duty to do so.
AC
- -> Acceleration: when victim already dying, if D’s actions bring about death more quickly than if D had not acted, D’s actions were AC.
- -> May be found responsible for death W/O AC if:
(1) a D who is an accomplice
(2) a D who is a member of a conspiracy where the reasonable result of a conspiracy is homicide and the homicide was committed in furtherance of conspiracy
(3) a D who kills victim together with 3rd party, causation question depends on whether D’s act was direct or indirect cause
(4) a D causes the death of another (even if not at his own hands) during commission of or in attempt to commit felony (IE felony murder)
PC
- -> Where victim’s death was natural and probable as a conseq of D’s conduct, does not matter whether D foresaw the exact chain of events resulting in victim’s death.
- -> CL: if victim died more than one year and one day after D’s act, D’s act not PC (most states have eliminated/extended this rule).
Notes
- -> People who fail to prevent injury/death not generally liable for victim’s condition unless they have duty to act.
- -> Where victim has unusual condition that contributes to his death, D can still be guilty of murder (takes him as he finds him)
Crimes Against the Person –> Homicide: Murder - Four Forms of Mens Rea
(1) Intent to kill - specific intent
(2) Intent to cause serious bodily harm
(3) Depraved heart
(4) Felony murder - BAARK
Crimes Against the Person –> Homicide: Murder - Mnemonic for Felony Murder Crimes
B - Burglary A - Arson R - Robbery R - Rape K - Kidnapping
Crimes Against the Person –> Homicide: Intent to Kill
Conduct where the D consciously desires to kill another person or makes the resulting death inevitable (absent justification, excuse, or mitigation to voluntary manslaughter).
Deadly Weapons Doctrine
–> An inference of intent to kill is raised through the intentional use of any instrument which, judging from its manner of use, is calculated to produce death or serious bodily injury.
Crimes Against the Person –> Homicide: Intent to Cause Serious Bodily Harm
Like intent to kill malice, intent to inflict serious bodily injury must be proved by examination of all surrounding circumstances, including words and behavior of D.
–> Similarly, intentional use of deadly weapon in a way that is likely to causes serious injury provides evidence of intent to inflict serious bodily harm
Crimes Against the Person –> Homicide: Depraved-Heart Murder
Unintentional killing resulting from conduct involving a wanton indifference to human life and a conscious disregard of an unreasonable risk of death/serious bodily injury.
–> A D may create a very high risk of death/serious bodily injury for a logical and socially reasonable purpose (then not DH murder).
Crimes Against the Person –> Homicide: Felony Murder
A killing proximately caused during the commission or attempted commission of a serious/inherently dangerous felony (generally includes both intentional and accidental killings).
- -> Mental state required: intent to commit underlying felony
- -> Felony starts when D could be convicted of attempting the underlying felony (no completion requirement); felony terminated when felon reaches place of temporary safety (while fleeing, still may be guilty).
Collateral
–> Some states have limited FM by requiring underlying felony be independent of homicide so that every felonious attack on a victim which is ultimately fatal does not become escalated to murder by the rule.
Inherently Dangerous Req
- -> Abstract test (majority): consider only the elements of the felony in the abstract and not the factual circumstances of the felony as committed
- -> Contextual test (minority): look at particular circumstances of the case to determine whether underlying offense is inherently dangerous
Foreseeable Outgrowth
–> Resulting death must have been a FO of D’s actions (most deaths considered foreseeable, very liberal test)
