Module 10

Question 0

Who decides whether a person is competent to stand trial?

Answer 0

The judge

Question 1

What is the central legal issue in determining mental competency to stand trial?

Answer 1

Defendant’s ability to assist in his defense and understand the process he is involved in

Question 2

When is it okay to involuntarily administer drugs to a person that is incompetent to stand trial?

Answer 2

When important government interests are at stake, and the drugs are substantially unlikely to have side effects that will interfere with defendant’s ability to assist counsel

Question 3

How long can a person be committed once they have been found in competent to stand trial?

Answer 3

Not more than a reasonable period of time that is necessary to determine if there is a probability that defendant will attain capacity in the foreseeable future.

Question 4

The MPC says that a person is not responsible for criminal conduct if…

Answer 4

At the time of conduct as a result of mental disease/defect, he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct, or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law

Question 5

What is partial responsibility?

Answer 5

When a defendant at the time of conduct has been suffering from an abnormal mental condition that won’t allow an insanity defense, but that might be relevant consideration to determine whether he was guilty of the crime

Question 6

Is partial responsibility recognized in all jurisdictions?

Answer 6

No, only some

Question 7

Which is partial responsibility say about admissibility of evidence?

Answer 7

Evidence concerning the defendants mental condition is admissible with regard to whether the defendant had the mental state is an element of the offense that he is charged with

Question 8

When is partial responsibility generally brought?

Answer 8

In premeditation and deliberation cases

Question 9

How is partial responsibility different from insanity?

Answer 9

• insanity means the person is found not guilty and is committed
• partial responsibility means a finding of not guilty of the offense charged, and the defendant is usually convicted of a lesser offense, which results in imprisonment for lesser penalty than the original crime

Question 10

What is partial responsibility’s role in murder/manslaughter cases?

Answer 10

It doesn’t come into play because it would conflict with the reasonable man standard that presumes a person without serious mental and emotional defects

Question 11

What is the extenuating circumstance of imperfect defense?

Answer 11

If the belief wasn’t reasonable, that will downgrade what would otherwise be murder to voluntary manslaughter

Question 12

What is a common fallacy with regard to partial responsibility?

Answer 12

Often thought to be a doctrine where the defendant is partial responsible, but that is not correct. Proving that the defendant lacked the mental state for a crime will simply downgrade the responsibility to a lesser crime

Question 13

If it can be shown that a defendant’s mental condition didn’t allow for premeditation and deliberation, what is the D’s responsibility with regard to murder?

Answer 13

No responsibility for first-degree murder, but full responsibility for second

Question 14

Can partial responsibility ever result in full acquittal?

Answer 14

Yes if there is no lesser defense that the defendant can be held responsible for

Question 15

What is the burden of proof for partial responsibility?

Answer 15

It is on the state to prove all of the essential elements beyond a reasonable doubt

Question 16

What are the policy concerns associated with partial responsibility?

Answer 16

• juries are not equipped to handle settle distinctions in psychiatric testimony
• sometimes psychiatric testimony isn’t trustworthy
• compromised verdicts as a result of juries taking a middle ground and convicting of lesser offenses
• inadequate protection for the public, because people are convicted for lesser crimes

Question 17

What is a constitutional consideration with regard to partial responsibility?

Answer 17

Whether excluding psychiatric evidence violates the defendant’s constitutional rights to present evidence on his own behalf

Question 18

When is intoxication a defense?

Answer 18

When it negatives a required element of the crime (in some jurisdictions)

Question 19

Can intoxication be a defense to battery?

Answer 19

No because battery can be committed by reckless striking

Question 20

What are some factors pertinent to determine if intoxication has negated intent?

Answer 20

• quantity of intoxicant consumed
• period Of time involved
• actor’s conduct as perceived by others (what he said and how, what he looked like, how he acted, coordination, older, blood alcohol level, ability to recall significant events)

Question 21

Does a defendant have to be unconscious or incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong in order to use A defense of personal responsibility?

Answer 21

No

Question 22

If someone has already formed the intent to commit a crime, then drinks to get the courage to do it, and eventually get so drunk that he no longer has the intent, can that be a defense?

Answer 22

No

Question 23

Can intoxication negative recklessness?

Answer 23

No

Question 24

What is the stipulation for intoxication to negative premeditation and deliberation?

Answer 24

It must be so severe that it robs the defendant of his ability to premeditate and deliberate, but it doesn’t need to make him unconscious or deprive him of his ability to know right from wrong

Question 25

Why can’t recklessness be negated by intoxication?

Answer 25

Because recklessness involves an objective standard about whether a reasonable man would be aware of the risk

Question 26

What does the MPC say about being aware of becoming drunk?

Answer 26

Awareness of the potential consequences of excessive drinking on the capacity of human beings to gauge the risks incident to their conduct is by now so disbursed in our culture that is not unfair to postulate a general equivalence between the risks created by the conduct of the drunken actor and the risks created by his conduct in becoming drunk

Question 27

Can a defendant use self-defense and intoxication together?

Answer 27

No because self-defense requires that the defendant look at the situation as a reasonable sober man would

Question 28

What is voluntary intoxication and when can be used as a defense?

Answer 28

Self-induced intoxication, can only be used if it negatives some required element of the crime

Question 29

What is involuntary intoxication, and when can it be used as a defense?

Answer 29

If it puts the defendant in such a state of mind that he doesn’t know the nature/quality of his acts. Happens when the intoxication has resulted from an innocent mistake, duress, or medical advice

Question 30

If the defendant is an alcoholic, does that make his behavior involuntary?

Answer 30

Not necessarily

Question 31

How do you raise the defense of intoxication?

Answer 31

D pleads not guilty, and since this is an affirmative defense, the defendant has the burden of putting on evidence of his intoxication

Question 32

What are the four rules for traditional approach to voluntary intoxication?

Answer 32

A) voluntary intoxication was a defense to specific intent crime
B) voluntary intoxication was not a defense to any crime having a culpable mental state of malice, recklessness, negligence, or any strict liability offense
C) courts are split the common mall on whether voluntary intoxication could be used if the mental state of the crime was knowing/knowledge
D) when it can be used as a defense coming to all specific intent crimes, the defendant has to been so drunk cannot realize what he was doing

Question 33

If a state wanted to remove voluntary intoxication as a defense completely, would that be constitutional?

Answer 33

Technically yes, there’s a lot of discussion about this, but the Supreme Court said yes

Question 34

Involuntary intoxication includes what kinds of intoxication?

Answer 34

• coerced
• pathological
• intoxication by innocent mistake
• medically necessary

Question 35

What is larceny?

Answer 35

The intentional taking and carrying away of the personal property in the possession of another without consent with the intent to permanently deprive the other person of the property

Question 36

How much movement is required for larceny?

Answer 36

A slight movement is enough as long as the theater has complete control over the property at that moment in time

Question 37

If someone takes property and intends to return it is that larceny?

Answer 37

No because the mental state is to permanently deprive the other person of the property

Question 38

What is embezzlement?

Answer 38

When a person under fiduciary relationship or someone else, like an employee, in lawful possession of the property converts it to his own use

Question 39

Can an employee in possession of a piece of property who steals it be convicted of larceny?

Answer 39

No because he was in possession of the property. He can be convicted of embezzlement

Question 40

What is obtaining property by false pretenses?

Answer 40

When a person obtains both title and possession of the property of another through lies. This crime is practically done away with in modern law

Question 41

In modern law the crimes of larceny, embezzlement, and false pretenses have been largely done away with and converted into one crime in their place. What is that crime?

Answer 41

Theft

Question 42

What is burglary?

Answer 42

The breaking and entering of the dwelling house of another in the nighttime with the intent to commit a felony therein

Question 43

What does a breaking mean in a burglary?

Answer 43

The opening of something that was closed (ie: opening a door, opening a window)

Question 44

What is considered an entry in burglary?

Answer 44

Any entry no matter how slight, across the plane of the house (opening a closed window and reaching in to get something on the ledge)

Question 45

What is the modern rule for the dwelling house of another in burglary?

Answer 45

Any place that is customarily used for sleeping, and business establishment ie) can be a cabin in the woods, can be a hotel room

Question 46

A hobo breaks into a house to get out of the cold, then sees a ring and suddenly decides to steal it. Is that burglary?

Answer 46

No because he didn’t have the intent to commit a felony inside when he broke into the house

Question 47

When is burglary complete?

Answer 47

At the time of the entry, even though nothing has been taken from the house

Question 48

If the defendant complete a crime, like larceny, while inside the home that he is broken into, can he be found guilty of both burglary and larceny?

Answer 48

Yes, there is no merger doctrine

Question 49

What is the modern term for burglary?

Answer 49

Breaking and entering and it covers all of the illegal entries that are not picked up by burglary. So if a burglary element is missing, you can almost always charge the defendant with breaking and entering

Question 50

What is a robbery?

Answer 50

A combination of assault and larceny. Requires the taking of the personal property of another from someone’s person or presents by force or intimidation with the intent to permanently deprive. Ie) ripping a necklace from a neck, or taking it from the table next to the victim