Criminal Law

Question 1

Accomplice

Answer 1

A person will be liable as an accomplice if he acts with the intent to aid, counsel, or encourage the principal to commit illegal conduct. An accomplice is responsible for the crimes he committed or counseled and for any other crimes committed in the course of committing the contemplated crime that were probable and foreseeable.

Question 2

Accessory after the fact

Answer 2

An accessory after the facts is one who receives, relieves, comforts, or assist another, knowing that he committed a felony, to help the felon escape arrest, trial, or conviction

Question 3

Receipt of stolen property

Answer 3

Receipt of stolen property requires:

1. A showing that the defendant received possession and control of stolen property;
2. Known to have been obtained in a manner constituting a criminal offense by another person;
3. With the intent to permanently deprive the owner of is interest in it

Question 4

First degree murder

Answer 4

First degree murder is defined by statute as a murder committed with premeditation and deliberation. If the defendant made the decision to kill in a cool and dispassionate manner and actually reflected on the idea of killing, even if only for a brief period, it is first degree murder.
First degree murder may also include a murder committed during the commission of an enumerated felony

Question 5

Second degree murder

Answer 5

Second degree murder is generally defined as all murder that don’t fit into the definition of first degree murder and is similar to common law murder. Common law murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought.
Malice aforethought exists where the defendant has any of the following state of mind:
1. Intent to kill
2. Intent to commit great bodily harm
3. Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life
4. Intent to commit an unenumerated felony that is inherently dangerous

Question 6

Voluntary Manslaughter

Answer 6

Voluntary manslaughter is a killing that would otherwise be murder, but that is distinguishable from murder by the existence of adequate provocation.
The provocation must be sufficient to arouse the sudden and intense passion in the mind of an ordinary person such that he would lose any self-control. The person must in fact be provoked, and there must be no sufficient time for the person to cool off.

Question 7

Burglary

Answer 7

Burglary is the breaking and entering of a dwelling of another, at nighttime, with the intent to commit a felony therein.

Question 8

Larceny

Answer 8

Larceny is the trespassory taking and carrying away of tangible personal property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of his interest in the property.

Question 9

Embezzlement

Answer 9

Embezzlement is the fraudulent conversion of personal property of another, by a person in lawful possession of that property.

Question 10

Robbery

Answer 10

Robbery is the taking of personal property, of another, from the other’s person, or presence by force or intimidation, with the intent to permanently deprive him of the property.

Question 11

Battery

Answer 11

Battery is an intentional and unlawful application of force, to the person of another, resulting in either bodily injury or an offensive touching.

Question 12

Kidnapping

Answer 12

Kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person that involves either some movement of the victim or concealment of the victim in a secret place.

Question 13

Attempt

Answer 13

An attempt is an act, done with the intent to commit a crime, that falls short of completing the crime. Attempt requires the specific intent to commit the targeted offense and an overt act in furtherance of that intent.
The defendant must have committed an act beyond mere preparation for the offense.

Question 14

Solicitation

Answer 14

Solicitation requires inciting, counseling, advising, urging, or commandering another to commit a crime, with the specific intent that the person solicited actually commit the crime. The solicitator cannot be punished for both the solicitation and the targeted offense.

Question 15

Conspiracy

Answer 15

A conspiracy is an agreement between two or more person to accomplish some criminal or unlawful purpose, or to accomplish a lawful purpose by unlawful means. Conspiracy requires:
1. an agreement between 2 or more persons
2. an intent to enter into an agreement
3. an intent by at least 2 persons to achieve the objective of the agreement
4. an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.
No express agreement is required, it may be inferred from the joint activity of the parties.

Question 16

Self-Defense

Answer 16

To act in self-defense, the defendant must:

1. be without fault
2. be confronted with unlawful force, and
3. reasonably believe that he is threatened with imminent death or great bodily harm.

Question 17

M’Naghten Rule

Answer 17

A defendant is entitled to acquittal if a disease of the mind caused a defect of reason such that the defendant lacked the ability at the time of his action to either know the wrongfulness of his actions or understand the nature and quality of his actions

Question 18

Irresistible Impulse Test

Answer 18

A defendant is entitled to acquittal only if, because of a mental illness, he was unable to control his actions or understand the nature and quality of his actions

Question 19

Durham Test

Answer 19

A defendant is entitled to acquittal if the crime was the product of a mental illness and would not have been committed but for the disease.

Question 20

Voluntary Intoxication

Answer 20

Voluntary intoxication is the intentional taking, without duress, of a substance known to be intoxicating.

Question 21

Involuntary Intoxication

Answer 21

Involuntary intoxication is the taking of an intoxicating substance:
1. without knowledge of its nature
2. under direct duress imposer by another, or
3. pursuant to medical advice while unaware of the substance’s intoxicating effect.
Involuntary intoxication may be treated as a mental illness, in which case a defendant is entitled to an acquittal if the test for insanity is met.