Misc Flashcards
Peremptory challenges
A peremptory challenge is an objection to a potential juror that can be raised without any reason or explanation during the jury-selection process.
However, the prosecution’s use of peremptory challenges must comply with the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection clause, which prohibits striking potential jurors based solely on their race, ethnicity, or sex.
To successfully contest a peremptory challenge on equal protections grounds (Batson challenge) and receive a new trial on appeal:
1. the defendant must establish a ** prima facie case of discrimination** (eg, the prosecution used peremptory challenges to strike only female jurors)
2. the prosecution may then provide a sufficiently neutral reason for the peremptory challenges (eg, the strikes were based on age, not gender) and
3. if it does so, the defendant must then prove intentional discrimination—that the prosecution’s reasoning is insufficient or implausible (eg, the prosecution purportedly struck a 21-year-old woman due to her age but did not strike a 21-year-old man).
The 6A requirement that a jury be drawn from a fair cross section of the community applies to the composition of the jury venire (the panel of citizens from which a jury is selected)—not the empaneled jury (citizens selected from the jury venire to hear the case).
Jury Instructions re Lesser Included Offense
A court should instruct the jury on a lesser included offense IF based on the evidence presented at trial, a ** rational jury could acquit the defendant of the charged offense but convict the defendant of the lesser offense.**
If a statute does not state the culpable mind applicable to all material elements of the crime…
If a statute does not state the culpable mind applicable to all material elements of the crime, then the mens rea applicable to one material element is applicable to all material elements unless a contrary purpose plainly appears. Consequently, the “knowingly” state of mind is applied to both the “sell, distribute, or barter a sexually explicit film” element and the “featuring actors younger than the age of majority” element.
Criminal battery
is the unlawful application of force to the victim’s person—including an object near, carried by, or attached to the victim—that causes bodily harm or constitutes an offensive touching.
Contact is offensive if a reasonable person would find it unpleasant or repugnant.
Wharton Rule
if a crime requires two or more participants, there is no conspiracy unless more parties than are necessary to complete the crime agree to commit the crime.
Minors x Death Penalty
The Eighth Amendment prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment” prohibits the execution of a defendant who was younger than eighteen years of age at the time of the commission of a crime.
