Other Defenses Flashcards
Defense of Necessity
When forces of nature cause the actor to commit what would otherwise be a crime, the defendant may engage in that conduct to avoid some other greater harm and be shielded from the resulting criminal liability.
Objective Standard: a good faith belief is insufficient
Defense of Necessity- caveats
Defendant may never rely on the defense in a homicide
- defendant may not rely on necessity when he set the natural forces into motion.
Defense of Necessity negates the requisite mental state as the defendant…
engages in prohibited conduct but does so without a “guilty” state of mind
- involves a force of nature
Defense of Duress
A third party’s unlawful threat that causes a defendant to reasonably believe that the only way to avoid death or serious bodily injury to himself or another is to violate the law, and causes the defendant to do so, will shield the defendant from criminal liability.
->complete defense will eliminate liability
Defense of Duress negates the actus reus as the defendant…
engages in prohibited conduct, even with the requisite state of mind that the crime will be committed, but acts through compulsion rather than choice.
- involves a third party
Defense of Entrapment
Where a crime is planned by law enforcement, and is committed by a defendant, who would not have committed the crime but for the trickery, persuasion, or inducement of the officer, defendant is shielded from liability.
->criminal design originated from law enforcement AND defendant must not have been predisposed to commit the crime prior to having conduct with the officers.
-does not apply to friends.
Defense of Intoxication (by any substance) - voluntary
Defense to a specific intent crime if the intoxication prevents the formation of required intent
Caveat: does not apply when the intent was formed prior to the intoxication or when the actor becomes intoxicated for the purpose of establishing the defense.
Defense of Intoxication (by any substance)- involuntary
Defense to specific intent, general intent, and malice crimes.
-the intoxicating substance must have been taken
: without knowledge of its intoxicating nature, including substances pursuant to medical advice OR by force or duress.
Defense of Insanity
Encompasses mental abnormalities that affect legal responsibility.
There is a presumption of sanity so the defendant must prove his insanity by a preponderance of evidence(clear +convincing in some jurisdictions), then the burden shifts to the prosecution to rebut.
Defense of Insanity- Irresistible Impulse Test
Defendant is not guilty if, but for mental disease or defect, defendant would not have committed the crime.
Defense of Insanity- Durham Rule Minority
Defendant is not guilty if, because of mental disease or defect, defendant lacked a substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions or to confirm to the law.
Defense of Insanity- Model Penal Code Test
Defendant is not guilty if, because of mental disease or defect, defendant lacked a substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions or to confirm to the law.
