Defenses Flashcards
Self-defense
Affirmative defense in Virginia, may be raised when a person who reasonably apprehends bodily harm by another exercises reasonable force to repel the assault.
If established results in an acquittal.
Defendant has the burden of introduction of evidence of justification or excuse.
Justifiable self-defense
Defendant who acts without fault
Excusable self defense
Defendant who acts with a fault
Can a person use deadly force in self-defense?
Only if the reasonable grounds to believe that the user of deadly force was in imminent danger of great bodily harm or death at the time deadly force is used.
Fear alone is not a justification.
Maybe used to defend against an intruder in one’s own home.
When acting in self-defense must person retreat?
No obligation to retreat before employing force unless the defendant is at fault or otherwise provoked the aggressor.
Can aggressor use self-defense?
If aggressive abandoned the original attack by retreating to the extent he can safely do so and making known his desire for peace by warrant or act, she may gain the right to act in self-defense.
If victim dies = excusable homicide, not justifiable homicide.
Can a person claim self-defense of others?
Yes under the same circumstances that self defense would be acceptable.
Defense of others is not limited to family members but extends to anyone a defendant reasonably believes has the right of self-defense.
What is the standard for defense of property?
When person’s lawful possession of property that is threatened by the conduct of another, and who has no time to seek assistance from law enforcement, may take reasonable steps including the use of non-deadly force to protect the property.
To use force, the Defender must reasonably believe that the real property is in immediate danger of unlawful trespass or that personal property is in immediate danger of being carried away and that the use of force is necessary to prevent either.
The forest cannot be unreasonably disproportionate to the perceived harm.
What is a defense of duress?
The defendant may raise the defense of duress if he violated the law as a result of a third parties unlawful threat that caused the defendant to reasonably believe that the only way to avoid death or serious bodily injury to himself or another is to in fact violate the law.
Does not apply to killing an innocent person.
What is a defense of entrapment?
Entrapment is the conception and planning of an offense by a law-enforcement officer, and his procurement of its commission by a defendant who would not have committed that offense except for the trickery, persuasion, or fraud of the officer.
The defendant must like any predisposition to come at the crime.
Will not bar convection when the police merely afford an opportunity for the commission of a crime to a defendant willing to commit it.
Also applies to undercover agents.
When must insanity defense be raised?
Defendant must raise the insanity defense and give notice to the commonwealth attorney of his intention to put sanity in issue and present expert testimony at least 60 days before the trial.
What is M’Naghten test for insanity defense?
The defendant is not guilty if, because of a defective reason due to a mental disease, the defendant did not know either:
(i) The nature and quality of the act; or
(ii) The wrongfulness of the act.
Defendant must prove to the satisfaction of the jury that he was insane at the time of the offense.
What is irresistible impulse test?
Defendant is not guilty if he is able to understand the nature and consequences of his acts and knows it is wrong, but his mind has become so impaired by disease that he’s totally deprived of the mental power to control or restrain his act.
When is voluntary intoxication a defense?
Voluntary intoxication is not a defense in Virginia unless a person is so greatly intoxicated that he was in capable of the deliberation and premeditation, two essential elements to prove capital or 1st degree murder.
When is involuntary intoxication a defense?
As long as the intoxication serves to negate an element of general and specific intent crimes. To be considered involuntary the defendant must have be unwillingly or unconsciously intoxicated.
