CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE

Question 1

What does causation require?

Answer 1

Causation requires showing that the defendant’s acts were both the actual and proximate cause of the outcome. Proximate cause is present if the outcome was foreseeable.

Question 2

Define accomplice liability

Answer 2

A person is guilty as an accomplice if he assists or encourages the principal with double intent (1) the intent to assist the principal and (2) the intent that the principal commits the offense.

Question 3

Malice aforethought

Answer 3

In order to be guilty of murder, the defendant must have the mens rea of malice aforethought which is satisfied with the intent to kill (1st degree), with the knowledge that his acts would kill (1st degree), with intent to inflict great bodily harm (2nd degree) or with reckless disregard of an extreme risk to human life.

Question 4

What is murder?

Answer 4

Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought.

Question 5

Define 1st-degree murder

Answer 5

First-degree murder is killing with premeditation or deliberation.

Question 6

What is felony murder?

Answer 6

Felony murder is a killing commited during the commission of a felony or during an attempt to commit a felony.
The felony must be inherently dangerous and independent from the homicide.

Question 7

What is Voluntary Manslaughter?

Answer 7

Voluntary Manslaughter is an intentional killing of a human being without malice aforethought committed in the heat of passion due to adequate provocation.

Question 8

What is Involuntary Manslaughter?

Answer 8

Involuntary manslaughter occurs when the defendant causes the death of another human being by engaging in conduct that creates an unreasonable risk of death or great bodily harm.

Question 9

What does the prosecutor need to prove in an attempt?

Answer 9

To prove attempt the prosecutor must prove (1) the defendant intended to to commit the crime; (2) the defendant’s acts went beyond mere preparation to commit the crime. in most states abandonment is not a defense to attempt.

Question 10

Duress

Answer 10

The defense of duress is available when the defendant commits a crime due to threats or force by another that cause the defendant a reasonable fear that if he did not commit the crime he or a third person would suffer imminent death or serious bodily harm. Duress is not a defense to intentional homicide.

Question 11

Insanity

Answer 11

To prove insanity the defendant must prove that he suffered a disease of the mind that caused a defect of reason, and as a result, he lacked the ability to know the wrongfulness of the actions or understand the nature and quality of his actions.

Question 12

Standing

Answer 12

A person has standing to raise a Fourth Amendment challenge if he has an expectation of privacy in the thing searched or seized.

Question 13

Plain view exception

Answer 13

If officers are lawfully in a position from which they view an object if its incriminating character is immediately apparent, and if the officers have a lawful right of access to it, they may seize it without a warrant.

Question 14

Terry Stops

Answer 14

The Fourth Amendment permits the detention of individuals for brief periods of time if the police have reasonable and articulable suspicion that the individual has been recently involved in criminal activity.

Question 15

Fourteen Amendment - Violations of Due Process

Answer 15

The standard for excluding confessions under the Due Process Clause is (1) whether the police subjected the suspect to coercive conduct and (2) whether the conduct was sufficient to overcome the will of the suspect. Neither the confession nor the fruits of the confession can be admitted if the Fourteen Amendment is violated.

Question 16

Six Amendment - right to counsel

Answer 16

the Sixth Amendment, as applied to the states through the Fourteen Amendment provides that the accused has the right to “ have the assistance of counsel for his defense” this right attaches when judicial proceedings have begun. It applies to all critical stages of the prosecution after formal charges have been filed. Once it attaches any attempts to deliberately elicit an incriminating statement about the offense that the defendant was charged with, the absence of counsel or knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver, violates the Sixth Amendment.

Question 17

Fifth Amendment - Right to Remain Silent and Right to Counsel

Answer 17

Law enforcement officers are required to read Miranda Warnings to a suspect when the suspect is subjected to custodial interrogation.

Question 18

Public Safety - When are Miranda Warnings not required?

Answer 18

Miranda warnings are not required when the questions are intended to protect public safety (e.g. to secure weapons after a shooting)

Question 19

When is a suspect in custody?

Answer 19

A suspect is in custody if there a formal arrest or retrains on freedom of movement.

Question 20

What is interrogation?

Answer 20

Interrogation is questioning initiated by law enforcement officers or any words or actions that the police should know are reasonably likely to lead to an incriminating response from the suspect.

Question 21

When is a Miranda waiver valid?

Answer 21

The suspect must make a knowing, intelligent and voluntary waiver.

Question 22

what is a valid Miranda Invocation?

Answer 22

For both the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney the suspect must make an explicit, unambiguous, and unequivocal request.