Criminal Law Flashcards
what is a member of conspiracy liable for ?
conspiracy of that crime, and all crimes co-conspirators committed that were foreseeable or in furtherance of the agreed criminal act.
Common law state of minds
- purposely => with conscious intent to cause the result
- knowingly => with knowledge that his conduct will necessarily or very likely cause the result as to the harmful result.
possession of contraband statutes
criminal statutes that penalize the possession of contraband generally require only that the defendant have control of the item for a long enough period to have had an opportunity to terminate the possession. Thus, the defendant need not have moved or handled the box.
knowledge may be inferred…
when the defendant is aware of a high probability of the true nature of the item and deliberately avoids learning the truth.
larceny by trick v. false pretenses
False Pretenses
(i) obtaining title
(ii) to the property of another
(iii) by an intentional (or, in some states, knowing) false statement of past or existing fact;
(iv) with intent to defraud the other.
Larceny by trick
- same but about obtaining possession, NOT TITLE
Can you commit larceny of your own property?
YES if another person, such as a bailee, has a superior right to possession of the property at that time.
ex: take your stuff for repair, promise to pay when come to pick up - then have someone pick up without paying.
Larceny / Burglary / Felony Murder
Felony murder and burglary require a felony to be committed:
if fact pattern where D goes to steal at night, can be
=> larceny - need INTENT TO PERMANENTLY deprive of property without permission and transport it.
> no person in the house
=> robbery - taking personal property FROM V’s PRESENCE by FORCE/THREAT with intent to premaritally deprive
> person in the house
if any met - any killing occurs felony murder of 1st degree.
Note:
No felony murder if enter another’s house at night to take something, WITH NO INTENT TO KEEP, just borrowing without permission.
First degree murder
> Premeditated deliberate
> Felony murder - during enumerated felony.
If the pre-existing condition of the victim causes the death, eggshell v?
Any preexisting conditions that make a person more susceptible to death are essentially disregarded. The defendant “takes the victim as he finds him.”
can you kill a person who its about to die?
law forbids shortening a life even for one second, so it is not a defense that medical science had given the victim up for dead. If the defendant’s action in any way shortened the victim’s life, he can be held liable for murder.
Is there embezzlement if D gives back what was taken?
If the defendant intended to restore the exact property taken, it is NOT embezzlement.
But if he intended to restore similar or substantially identical property, it is embezzlement, EVEN IF it was money that was initially taken and other money-of identical value-that he intended to return.
if you borrow something and misrepresent what will you be using it for and then use it in a way to cause permanent damage.
This can be larceny by trick, cuz you know at the time of the taking that you will be using it in a way that involved a substantial risk of damage or loss. This suffices as intent to permanently deprive
if search that was the basis of the probable cause for search of his house was ILLEGAL, can D suppress that evidence .
NO, not if D has no expectation privacy at the place where first search occurred. If he does not (someone else’s house), then cannot suppress stuff found from search of his house because that search has a proper warrant based on probable cause.
does taking photos of a person’s home’s interior without warrant constitute a search?
Yes, high expiation of privacy at home.
obtaining information about the interior of a home through sense-enhancing technology that could not otherwise have been obtained without a physical intrusion constitutes a violation of the Fourth Amendment
Does police need a warrant to investigate a murder scene ?
Yes, there is no exception! if the owner of where murder happen objects, police must get a warrant.
When will a court find a special need justifying a warrantless drug test?
- public school students extracurricular activities
- Drug interdiction agents who have access to large quantities of illegal drugs.
- Railroad employees involved in accidents.
When will a court NOT find a special need justifying a warrantless drug test?
warrantless drug testing of politicians running for public office.
Plain View exception elements
(1) must be legitimately on the premises where the item is found
(2) the item must be evidence, contraband, or a fruit or instrumentality of a crime
(3) the item must be in plain view and
(4) it must be immediately apparent (i.e., probable cause) that the item is evidence, contraband, or a fruit or instrumentality of a crime.
Does officer need to give a Miranda to question stopped person?
Generally NO! Routine traffic stops are considered noncustodial in nature because they are brief and temporary, and, therefore, Miranda warnings are not required to ask questions of detained motorists.
Can officer search car at stop and frisk?
> under the stop and frisk exception, an officer may order the occupant of a vehicle out of the car and search the passenger compartment if the officer reasonably believes that the occupant may be dangerous.
What if police execute an arrest warrant at a third party home BUT have no search warrant to third party home?
If the police do execute an arrest warrant at the home of a third party without obtaining a search warrant for the home, the arrest is still valid BUT evidence of any crime found in the home cannot be used against the owner of the home because it is the fruit of an unconstitutional search.
When is a person under seizure?
For purposes of the Fourth Amendment, a seizure occurs when a reasonable person would believe that he is not free to leave. The courts consider the totality of the circumstances in making this determination.
> seizure requires a physical application of force (e.g., handcuffing or otherwise subduing a person) or submission to an officer’s show of force.
> when suspect runs, there must be some application of force and submission to the show of force, which would require, at the least, stopping in response to the officer’s order.
> Police officers may ask people for permission to search and for identification; such requests do not involve the physical application of force or submission to a show of force.
Do police have to knock and announce when executing a search warrant?
Generally yes, bot not categorically always.
NO announcement needs to be made if the police reasonably suspect that knocking and announcing would be dangerous or futile or inhibit the investigation.
Is consent voluntary if consent giver did not know that he had a choice to not consent?
It may be! Knowledge of the right to withhold consent, while a factor to be considered, is NOT a prerequisite to establishing a voluntary consent. In the instant case, there are no facts that indicate that the police put any undue pressure on the defendant to consent to the search.
Although it is a factor to be considered in determining whether the consent was voluntary, the defendant’s subjective mistake about being able to withhold consent would probably not, by itself, be sufficient to deem the consent involuntary.
If police has a warrant to search a place, can they search people in that space?
NO: A search warrant does not authorize the police to search persons found on the premises who are not named in the warrant. (think bars, restaurants)
=> just because you happen to be somewhere that is getting searched, you do not give up your 4th Am. right to be free from unreasonable search.
=> note: can still get searched, if police has a probable cause on you and get a warrant .
=> if police find a person at the searched place whom they had a probable cause to arrest => can search him as incidence to lawful arrest.
Does a college student have expectation of privacy in dorm lounge?
ONLY limited expectation of privacy in a dormitory’s lounge
- also check if this is a private school (cannot assert rifer cuz no state action if unauthorized college police made the arrest)
what type of threat is enough for robbery?
> he force or threats may be used either to gain possession of the property or to retain possession immediately AFTER such possession has been accomplished.
> Force must be sufficient to overcome the victim’s resistance.
> If threats of immediate death or serious physical injury are used, they must be threats to the victim, a member of her family, a relative, or a person in her presence at the time.
> A threat to do damage to property will not suffice-with the exception of a threat to destroy the victim’s dwelling house.
What rights derive from Fifth Amendment?
“life, liberty, property cannot be take without due process”
> Double Jeopardy
Self-Incrimination
(incorporated through 14th Am.)
What rights derive from Sixth Amendment?
> Right to counsel > Confrontation clause > Right to impartial jury > Right to speedy trial > Right to be informed of accusations against him
(incorporated through 14th Am.)
Using threat or force after taking property
- may be robbery if using it to keep others from physically taking the robbed stuff away
- is NOT robbery if you deny robbery, robbery is completed and enter into conflict with robbed about whether you robbed her.
> If person is being illegally searched or arrested
> is read Miranda
> volunteered incriminating stuff
> not admissible as a fruit of illegal arrest
If co-defendant gives testimony that implicates other codefendant
==> Confrontation clause problem: co-D confession cannot be admitted because as a D, co-D cannot be forced to testify, thus, D will have no opportunity to cross his implicator if co-D refused to testify
When is co-D confession admissible against D?
(i) all portions referring to the other defendant can be eliminated (so that there is no indication of that defendant’s involvement) OR
(ii) the confessing defendant takes the stand and subjects himself to cross-examination regarding the truth or falsity of the statement, OR
(iii) the confession of the non-testifying co-defendant is being used to rebut the defendant’s claim that his confession was obtained coercively, and the JURY IS INSTRUCTED OF THIS PURPOSE - IF limiting instruction => do not need cross or eliminating statements about D (i),(ii).
Even if the co-defendant denies ever having made the confession, the opportunity at trial to cross-examine the co-defendant satisfies the Confrontation Clause.
What can you use Miranda violation testimony in trial for?
to impeach testifying D at trial ONLY IF D’s statements were voluntary.
Do juveniles have to be given Miranda warnings?
YES, not discretionary.
How to decide if 6th Am. right to speedy trial has been violated?
totality of the circumstances TEST, factors:
(i) length of the delay,
(ii) reason for the delay,
(iii) whether the defendant asserted his right, and
(iv) prejudice to the defendant.
Remedy for violation of speedy trial right => dismissal with prejudice.
NOT entitled to speedy trial relief for the period between the dismissal of charges and later refiling.
when does 6th Am. right to counsel start to apply
ONLY after adversary judicial proceedings have begun (e.g., formal charges have been filed).
NO 6th Am. violation when gov. puts an informant in D’s cell even after formal charges filed. There is a violation only if the informant does something designed to elicit incriminating remarks.
Does D have to know that he is speaking to a public police or police agent for 6th Am. right to counsel to apply?
NO - this is a Miranda requirement.
The Sixth Amendment right to counsel applies to all post-charge interrogations, whether or not the defendant knows he is speaking to a government informant.
Can court consider co-conspirators’ refusal to reveal other crime member name when deciding his sentence?
YES, this is completely fine because 5th Am. right to silence does not protect from implicating other from prosecution.
if you fail to implicate other, it will be considrered. I you do not implicate yourself, CANNOT be considered.
When can D’s silence be used in trial?
> silence before Miranda
silence (failure to disclose exculpatory stuff) after waiving Miranda - may be cross-examined at trial on that failure in an effort to show that it is a recent fabrication
What is accessory after the fact liable for?
- separate crime of obstructing justice
- NOT LIABLE FOR Principal’s crimes
when can an accomplice withdraw?
before the chain of events leading to commission of crime becomes unstoppable.
Guilty plea
A guilty plea is a waiver of the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial.
the judge should make sure that the defendant is
=> informed of the nature of the charge to which the plea is offered,
=> of the maximum possible penalty,
=> that she has a right not to plead guilty, and that
=> by pleading guilty she waives her right to a trial.
if any not met, D’s plea will not be a sufficiently intelligent choice to satisfy the constitutional standard, and therefore will not be immune from a post-sentence attack on it
to be accessory after the fact
crime must have been finished/already committed.
before that => accomplice.
Crime Battery v. Civil battery
- Criminal Battery - Unlawful application of force to the person resulting in either bodily injury or offensive touching.
> DOES NOT have to be intentional, can be CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE
> can be indirect - poison someone
Civil Battery
- intent
- harmful offensive contact
- with P’s body.
Common Law Conspiracy
at least TWO guilty parties.
cannot be just 1
when can co-conspirator’s statement be admitted as a statement against interest
A co-conspirator’s statement to qualify as a vicarious statement of an opposing party, the statement must have been in furtherance of the conspiracy by a participant in it.
MPC insanity state of mind
Model Penal Code, a defendant is entitled to acquittal if he suffered from a mental disease or defect and as a result lacked substantial capacity to either:
(i) appreciate the criminality of his conduct; or
(ii) conform his conduct to the requirements of law.
Larceny v. Embezzelement
=> larceny must have the intent to permanently deprive at the time to take the property. There was no lawful possession to being with (except continuing larceny)
=> embezzlement ALWAYS starts with lawful possession.
Note: if you are given a company car, they choose to sell it instead of returning it => embezzlement, not larceny.
What are MURDER state of minds?
- intent to kill
- intent to inflict great bodily injury
- depraved heart (reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life)
- intent to commit a felony (FM)
Can assault with deadly weapon be counted as a felony for purposes of FM rule to cause murder?
NO, this is not an independent felony - so merges with killing
- assault with deadly weapon
- battery that directly causes death
==> cannot use for felony murder
attempt elements
1) specific intent => the intent to commit the act that he is accused to attempt (if can show that intent was to scare, not kill - CANNOT BE ATTEMPTED MURDER)
2) substantial step toward the act (overt act)
Is being drunk a defense for reckless behavior?
NO, ONLY defense for specific intent crimes!
ignore this fact when picking an answer choice if there is no specific crime involved.
🌻 PLEASE FOCUS ON MENS REA IN THE QUESTION FOR CRIM LAW AND ELIMINATE ALL ANSWER CHOICES THAT TALK ABOUT OTHER MENS REA 🌞
🐒
if you have a statute that has 3 parts, D knows and follows 2, but not 3rd
guilty! => mistake of law is not a defense
must follow all 3!
does not matter if it was reasonable
what’s accomplices’ intent
1) specific intent that principle commit the offense
2) must aid, abate, encourage Principle
Accomplice Liability EXAMPTION !
members of a class protected by a statute that has been violated, are EXEMPTED from liability
ex: kid asking someone to buy him a beer (statute to not sell to minor)
Can a minor be guilty of crime?
anyone over 14 can usually be held guilty of crime.
Does principle have to be convicted before accomplice can?
NO, no such requirement.
Conspiracy mens rea
1) specific intent to commit the target offense + intent to pursue unlawful act.
2) CL => more than 1 person with guilty mind (meeting of the minds)
overt act is MPC, not CL unless told.
Is there a conspiracy withdraw defense ?
NO DEFENSE TO A CHARGE OF CONSPIRACY
Withdrawal CAN be a defense
> to the substantive crimes if
- affirmative ACT notifying all other members of the intent to withdraw (can just say
- must be timely so that others can withdraw if they want as well
> also defense to accomplice
Can you withdraw from conspiracy under the MPC?
Yes, but have to do an actual act to abort the crime, rat them out, call the cops, etc.
Robbery v larceny
Larceny
taking and carrying away someone else’s property without consent with intent to premaritally deprive
Robbery
- Same
+ use of force or threat
+ from V’s presence or surroundings
Note - larceny can turn to robbery => try to pickpocket, then sees you and you push her away - robbery!
latency/robbery v. attempted latency/robbery
the moment you take the stuff away => completed crime, does not matter if they ran after you and take it back (cannot count as attempt)
> remember - attempt requires specific intent of the the target crime + substantial step.
robbery
larceny + assault or battery
assault
CRIMINAL
(i) an attempt to commit a battery, or
(ii) the intentional creation, other than by mere words, of a reasonable apprehension in the mind of the victim of imminent bodily harm.
CIVIL
> Put P in a reasonable apprehension of immediate battery
CAREFUL => if criminal, can be an assault EVEN IF P has no apprehension of imminent harm, cuz it can be only attempted crim battery (attempt to unlawfully apply force to the person resulting in bodily injury or offensive touching).
