Defenses Flashcards
What are the common law elements of duress?
(1) another person threatened to kill or grievously injure the actor or a third party, particularly near a relative
(2) the actor reasonably believed that the threat was genuine
(3) the threat was “present, imminent, and impending” at the time of the criminal act
(4) there was no reasonable escape from the threat except through compliance with the demands of the coercer;
(5) the actor was not at fault in exposing herself to the threat
What are the MPC elements of duress?
(1) she was compelled to commit the offense by the use, or threatened use of unlawful force by the coercer upon her or another person
(2) a person of reasonable firmness in her situation would have been unable to resist the coercion
Is involuntary intoxication a defense under the common law?
Yes. Involuntary intoxication is a complete defense to all specific-intent crimes and may also be a defense to general intent crimes.
Is voluntary intoxication a defense under the common law?
Sort of. Voluntary intoxication may negate mens rea required of specific intent crimes but is not considered a defense for general intent crimes.
When is someone incompetent?
(1) lacks the capacity to consult with her attorney with reasonable degree of rational understanding; or
(2) lacks a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against her
Describe the M’Naghten rule
A person is insane if, at the time of her act, she was laboring under such a defect of a person, arising from a disease of the mind, that (1) she did not know the nature and quality of the act that she was doing; or (2) if she did know it, she did not know that what she was doing was wrong.
Describe the Irresistible impulse test
A person is insane if, at the time of the offense: (1) she acted from an irresistible and uncontrollable impulse;” (2) she lost the power to choose between right and wrong, and to avoid doing the act in question, as that her free agency was at the time destroyed; or (3) the defendant’s will has been otherwise than voluntarily so completely destroyed that her actions are not subject to it, but are beyond her control.
Describe the Durham test
A person should be excused if her unlawful act was the product of a mental disease or defect.
Describe the MPC test
A person is not responsible for her criminal conduct if, at the time of the conduct, as the result of a mental disease or defect, she lacked substantial capacity to: (1) appreciate the criminality of her conduct; or (2) to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law.
What are the elements of common law necessity?
(1) the actor must be faced with clear and imminent danger
(2) the actor must expect, as a reasonable person, that his action will be effective in abating the danger that he seeks to avoid
(3) there must be no effective legal way to aver the harm
(4) the harm that the actor will cause by violating the law must be less serious than the harm that he seeks to avoid
(5) lawmakers must not have previously anticipated the choice of evils and determined the balance struck between the competing values in a manner in conflict with the actor’s choice
(6) the actor must come to the situation with clean hands
Describe MPC necessity
A person’s conduct is justified if: (1) he believes that his conduct is necessary to avoid harm to himself or another; (2) the harm to be avoided by the conduct is greater than that sought to be avoided by the law prohibiting his conduct; and (3) no legislative intent to exclude the conduct in such circumstances plainly exists.
Describe MPC mistake
Ignorance or mistake as to a matter of fact is a defense if the ignorance or mistake negates the purpose required to establish a material element of the offense
