Criminal Law

Question 1

Simple Assault

Answer 1

crime of simple assault when he attempts by physical menace to put another in fear of imminent serious bodily injury.

Question 2

recklessly endangering another person (REAP)

Answer 2

recklessly endangering another person through reckless conduct which places or may place another person in danger of death or serious bodily injury.

Question 3

disorderly conduct

Answer 3

if, with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, he engages in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior.

Question 4

Insanity

Answer 4

M’NaghtenRule
Pennsylvania follows the M’Naghten Rule. The burden of proof is on the defendant to prove insanity by a preponderance of the evidence. [18 Pa. Cons. Stat. §315]

Question 5

Diminished Capacity

Answer 5

Recognized, but it is extremely limited. The defense of diminished capacity only negates the specific intent requirement of first degree murder

Question 6

Voluntary Intoxication

Answer 6

is not a defense to any criminal charge, except that it can be grounds for reducing murder from a higher degree to a lower degree.

Question 7

Aggravated Assault

Answer 7

if he attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another, or causes such injury intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.

Question 8

Terroristic Threats

Answer 8

A person commits the crime of terroristic threats if the person communicates, either directly or indirectly, a threat to:
(i) Commit any crime of violence with intent to terrorize another;
(ii) Cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transportation; or (iii) Otherwise cause serious public inconvenience or terror with reckless disregard of the risk
of causing such terror or inconvenience.

A terroristic threat is a misdemeanor, unless the threat causes an actual disruption of normal business operations or everyday life (e.g., the evacuation of a building), in which case it is a felony.

Question 9

Harassment

Answer 9

committed when a person, with intent to harass, annoy, or alarm another: (i) subjects another to physical contact, or attempts or threatens to do so; (ii) follows another in a public place; (iii) engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits acts that serve no legitimate purpose; (iv) communicates to or about another in any threatening or obscene manner;
or (v) communicates repeatedly to another, specifically including in an anonymous manner or at extremely inconvenient hours.

Question 10

Stalking

Answer 10

when a person engages in a course of conduct, repeatedly commits acts toward another, or repeatedly communicates with another under circumstances that demonstrate an intent to place another in reasonable fear of bodily injury or an intent to cause substantial emotional distress to another.

Question 11

Disorderly Conduct

Answer 11

when, intending to cause public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, he:
(i) Engages in fighting, or threatening, violent, or tumultuous behavior;
(ii) Makes unreasonable noise;
(iii) Uses obscene language or makes an obscene gesture; or
(iv) Creates a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act that serves him no
legitimate purpose.

Question 12

Murder of the First Degree

Answer 12

If it is so designated by statute or if a person convicted of criminal homicide must be sentenced to death or to a term of life imprisonment. A criminal homicide is murder of the first degree when it is committed by an intentional killing. [18 Pa. Cons. Stat. §2502]

Question 13

Murder of the 2nd Degree

Answer 13

if it is so designated by statute or if a person convicted of homicide must be sentenced to a term of life imprisonment. A criminal homicide is murder of the second degree when it is committed while defendant was engaged as a principal or an accomplice in the perpetration of a felony. [18 Cons. Stat. §2502]

Question 14

Murder of the Third Degree

Answer 14

if it is so designated by statute or if a person convicted of homicide must be sentenced to no more than 40 years in prison.

Question 15

Voluntary Manslaughter

Answer 15

the killing of another without lawful justification under a sudden and intense passion resulting from serious provocation by: (i) the individual killed; or (ii) another whom the actor endeavors to kill, but instead negligently or accidentally causes the death of the individual killed.

Question 16

Involuntary Manslaughter

Answer 16

A person is guilty of involuntary manslaughter when he causes the death of another as a direct result of his reckless or grossly negligent act, regardless of whether the act was lawful or unlawful.

Question 17

Defiant Trespass

Answer 17

A person commits defiant trespass when, knowing that he is not privileged to do so, he enters or remains in any place where notice against trespass is given.

Question 18

Simple Trespass

Answer 18

A person commits simple trespass when, knowing that he is not privileged to do so, he enters or remains in any place for the purpose of threatening or terrorizing the owner or occupant of the premises, starting any fire on the premises, or damaging the premises.

Question 19

Kidnapping

Answer 19

consists of unlawfully removing another a substantial distance, or unlawfully confining another for a substantial period in a place of isolation, with any of the following intentions:
(i) To hold for ransom or reward, or as a shield or hostage;
(ii) To facilitate commission of any felony or flight thereafter;
(iii) To inflict bodily injury on or to terrorize the victim or another; or
(iv) To interfere with public officials in the performance of governmental/political
functions.

Question 20

Rape

Answer 20

Rape, a felony, may be committed by a man or woman, and may be committed against one’s spouse. Rape also includes sexual intercourse with a complainant who is less than 13 years old. The mens rea requirement is satisfied by evidence that the defendant intended to have or cause sexual intercourse; mens rea is immaterial to the age element. Mistake of age is no defense.

Question 21

Statutory Sexual Assault

Answer 21

A defendant is per se guilty of statutory sexual assault, a felony, when he engages in sexual intercourse with a minor under the age of 16, to whom he is not married, when he is four or more years older than the minor.

Question 22

In Pa Larceny is called

Answer 22

“theft by unlawful taking or disposition”

Question 23

False pretenses is called

Answer 23

Theft by deception

Question 24

Robbery

Answer 24

(i) inflicts bodily injury upon another;
(ii) threatens another with, or intentionally puts him in fear of, an immediate bodily injury;
(iii) physically takes or removes property from the person of another by force, however slight;
(iv) commits or threatens immediately to commit a first or second degree felony; or
(v) takes or removes the money of a financial institution without permission by making an oral or written demand of the institution’s employee, with the intent to deprive the financial institution thereof.

Question 25

Theft includes

Answer 25

1. theft by unlawful taking or disposition.
2. theft by deception
3. theft by extortion
4. theft of property lost, mislaid, or delivered by mistake.

Question 26

Forgery

Answer 26

A person is guilty of forgery when, with the intent to defraud or injure anyone, or with knowledge that he is facilitating a fraud or injury that is perpetrated by anyone, he

(i) alters any writing of another without his authority;
(ii) makes, authenticates, or transfers any writing so that it purports to be the act of another who did not authorize that act, or to have been executed at a time or place other than was in fact the case, or to be a copy of an original when no such original existed; or
(iii) utters any writing that he knows to be forged in a manner specified in (i) or (ii).

Question 27

Burglary

Answer 27

In Pennsylvania, a person is guilty of burglary if she enters a “building or occupied structure,” or separately secured or occupied portion thereof, with the intent to commit a crime therein. An “occupied structure” includes any structure, vehicle, or place adapted for overnight accommodation or for carrying on business therein.
Commonwealth v. Hagan

Question 28

Arson is composed of two distinct crimes in pa

Answer 28

1. arson endangering persons.

2. arson endangering property.