Murder and Voluntary Manslaughter Flashcards
What is the mens rea of murder?
Malice aforehtought, either express or implied
What does express malice mean?
Intention to kill
What does implied malice mean?
Intention to cause grievous bodily harm (Smith)
Which two cases show that intention to cause GBH is sufficient for murder?
Vickers and Cunningham
The actus reus of murder is ‘the unlawful killing of a r______ person in being under the Q______ peace’
Reasonable, Queen’s
True or false: the killing can be done through an act or an omission
True
When will oblique intention be introduced?
Where there is no clear signs of intention to kill or cause GBH
What is first part of the virtual certainty test?
Is the death a virtually certain consequence of D’s actions?
Who is D compared to in the second part of the virtual certainty test?
The reasonable person
Both f_____ and l_____ causation must be proved for murder
Factual (White, Pagett), legal (Smith, Cheshire)
s__(1) - ‘where a person kills or is part to the killing of another, they shall not be convicted of murder if’; D’s a____ or o_____ resulted from a total loss of _____.
54, acts, omissions, control
What does the case of Charles tell us about the defence of loss of control?
The deliberate nature of injuries showed control, so there was no defence
The rule that a ‘considered desire for revenge’ will provide no defence comes from which case?
Jewell
What are the two qualifying triggers for loss of control?
Fear and anger
Fear trigger: ‘Fear of v_____ against D or a_____’ (W___)
Violence, another, (Ward)
The anger trigger is ‘a thing said or done which’?
Constitutes circumstances of extremely grave character and causes D to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged
‘Sexual infidelity is to be d______ unless it provides the c____ in which another t_____ operates’ (C____)
Disregarded, context, trigger, (Clinton)
Give an example of a control characteristic which cannot be considered in loss of control
PTSD (Rejmanski), alcoholism, depression (McGrory)
What is the normal person’s test for loss of control? (s54(1)(c))
Would a person of D’s sex and age with a normal degree of tolerance and self-restraint have acted in the same or similar way?
Circumstances which relate solely to D’s t______ and s___-r_______ will not be considered unless they are the target of the provocation.
Tolerance, self-restraint
Name the 1st key ingredient in diminished responsibility
The abnormality of mental functioning must arise from a recognised medical condition
An abnormality of mental functioning is described in B____ as ‘a s___ of mental functioning so different from that of o____ human beings that the r_____ m__ would term it a_____’
Byrne, state, ordinary, reasonable man, abnormal
What was the recognised medical condition in the case of Campbell?
Epilepsy
The abnormality of mental functioning must substantially impair D’s ability to do what? (3 answers)
Understand the nature of their conduct, form rational judgement, exercise self-control
The abnormality of mental functioning must provide an e_____ for the k_____
Explanation, killing
How is the term ‘substantial’ defined?
Less than total, but more than trivial
The abnormality of mental functioning must c____ or be a significant c_______ factor in causing D to carry out his conduct
Cause, contributory
Which case states that intoxication alone cannot found diminished responsibility?
Dowds
What does the case of Dietschmann tell us about suffering from both a recognised medical condition and involuntary intoxication?
The intoxication should be disregarded, and it must be decided whether the condition alone would have impaired his responsibility
Had D lost his ability to maintain his actions is accordance with c_____ j______… or has he lost normal p_____ of r______? (Jewell)
Considered judgement, powers of reasoning
