Killings Flashcards
What are causation issues for homicide?
- But-for causation
- Year-and-one-day rule: victim must die within a year and one day from the infliction of the injury
- Proximate causation
If no causation, D can be guilty of attempted murder.
What is murder?
Intent to kill OR intent to cause serious bodily harm OR awareness of extremely high risk that death will result OR intent to commit a felony
When does liability for felony murder end?
When felon reaches a place of temporary safety
What differs murder in the first degree with murder in the second degree?
Most murders are murders of the second degree. Murders of the first degree required deliberation and premeditation OR the killing occurred during a specific felony.
What does felony murder generally require?
That the killing is committed during the course of a felony, the felony must be independent of the killing, and the death must have been a foreseeable result of the felony.
Are co-felons guilty of felony murder if a killing occurs during the course of the felony?
Yes, if the death was foreseeable to them.
What is voluntary manslaughter?
It is an intentional killing that would otherwise be murder but there is:
- objectively reasonable provocation;
- this actually caused D to kill the victim; and
- D acted on that before an objectively sufficient cooling period elapsed.
What is involuntary manslaughter?
It is a killing during either: in the course of committing a misdemeanor OR with criminal negligence.
How does the “proximate cause” theory apply to felons and co-felons?
Felons are liable for the deaths of innocent victims caused by someone other than a co-felon. *minority
How does the “agency” theory apply to felons and co-felons?
The killing must be committed by a felon or his “agent” with limited exceptions…then felon will be charged with felony murder.
A boy planned to rob the local currency exchange, but he needed a getaway car and somebody to be a lookout. He asked his sister, who immediately refused and warned him against carrying it out. The boy showed his sister a gun, threatening to shoot her if she did not go along with the plan. The sister consented to help, and the pair left for the currency exchange, with the sister driving. When they arrived, the sister left the car running so that she could get away and contact the police while her brother was inside, but the boy ordered her to go inside with him. During the robbery attempt, the clerk pulled out a gun, and the boy and the clerk shot and killed each other.
If the sister is charged with the killing of the store clerk, should the jury find her criminally liable if it accepts the sister’s version of the facts?
A - Yes, because duress is not a defense to murder.
B - Yes, because the clerk’s death occurred in furtherance of and during the perpetration of a robbery in which the sister was participating.
C - No, because the sister lacked the requisite intent.
D - No, because the sister withdrew from the conspiracy to commit robbery and thus is not liable for any acts committed in furtherance of the conspiracy.
The sister is not criminally liable for the store clerk’s death. A defendant may, by virtue of her participation in a conspiracy, be liable for the crimes of all other conspirators if the crimes were committed in furtherance of the objectives of the conspiracy and were a natural and probable consequence of the conspiracy (i.e., were foreseeable). Furthermore, liability for felony murder would attach if the killing were committed during the course of a felony. Thus, the sister would be criminally liable for the killing of the clerk if she were a co-conspirator or if she were a principal to the underlying felony (the robbery).
However, under the facts, the sister is neither because she lacked the requisite intent. Given the threat to her life, the sister did not freely enter into a conspiracy to commit robbery. *Duress is not a defense to murder, but it is for the underlying felony.
