Page 15 Flashcards
If a woman you raped committed suicide because the guilt was too much, what is your guilt?
Felony murder
If you aid or solicit another to commit suicide, what is your guilt?
You’re guilty if your conduct causes the suicide/attempted suicide
If you provide a deadly instrument to someone who is foreseeably bent on suicide, what is your responsibility?
Negligent homicide or manslaughter
What are the elements of murder?
- homicide
- malice
After you discuss homicide and malice, what are the things you need to consider on an essay question?
Justification/excuse, mitigation, degree, involuntary manslaughter
When dealing with a homicide, what are the things you need to prove?
Killing, of a human being, causation, malice
Why is the killing part of a homicide not usually an issue?
Because you usually start with the dead body
What is corpus delicti?
There must be evidence that proves a crime has been committed
At common-law, what is the first thing you have to have in order to charge someone with murder?
A body
When is it okay to show there was a homicide through circumstantial evidence, even without a body?
Only Modernly, not at common-law
Why is the death of a human being so important in homicide?
Because a dead person cannot be killed
Can a person that is dying/near death be killed?
Yes
When does death occur?
- Modernly: when brain death occurs, and is determined by a total lack of responsibility to stimuli
- CL: when the heart stops
When does life begin?
When a fetus is born out of its mother’s body and living
On an exam, if the question has to do with the death of a fetus, or a baby born dead, what must you discuss?
What homicide means, what a human being is, and explanation of fetal murder statutes
How does causation relate to homicide?
Must prove the death occurred by the D
What must be established for causation for homicide?
Actual causation and proximate causation
What are the two tests to prove actual causation for homicide?
- but-for test
- substantial factor test
What is the but-for test for causation for homicide?
V wouldn’t have died absent the defendant’s act
When is the substantial factor test applied for homicide?
Where there are multiple causes or responsible parties in addition to the defendant
What is the substantial factor test for but-for causation for homicide?
Defendant’s act was a substantial factor in causing the killing
In a situation where defendant shoots V in the head, and at the same time another person stabs him in the heart, how would causation be determined?
Can’t show that but-for the defendant’s act the victim wouldn’t have died but can show it was a substantial factor
For situations where defendant’s act on its own is not enough to cause the death, but when joined with other factors does contribute to the death, what kind of causation would that be?
Still actual causation, through the substantial factor test
If someone shoots a victim in her leg and while she’s getting her phone to call for help you knock her unconscious, then she bleeds to death, how is causation figured out?
Both of you are substantial factors that actually caused her death
If a victim is already dying, but your actions bring her death more quickly, are you the actual cause?
Yes
If you pull the plug on a patient that only has 24 hours to live, have you caused her death?
Yes
If the victim is killed by some independent cause before your actions can kill her, are you the cause of the death?
No, because that is an independent intervening act
If you push someone out of an airplane and just before they hit the ground someone shoots them in the head, who is the actual cause of death?
The shooter
What is proximate causation for murder?
Link between the killing and the defendant’s actions to establish legal responsibility
What are the two things that need to be considered when you’re discussing proximate cause?
Foreseeability, and superseding causes
What are the two types of proximate cause?
- Direct cause
- Indirect cause
What is a direct cause for proximate cause for murder?
The defendant’s acts alone caused the killing, so he will be held proximately liable
If the victim’s death results from a special sensitivity/pre-existing condition, are you the proximate cause?
Yes because you take your victim as you find him, and you are still the cause regardless of whether you could’ve foreseen the situation
What is indirect cause for proximate cause for homicide?
Another force that combines with the defendant’s act to bring about the victim’s death (aka intervening cause)
What must happen to relieve the defendant of liability and break the chain of proximate causation?
Other forces must be superseding intervening causes
Any instrumentality can be the cause of murder if the defendant does what?
Sets the events in motion that resulted in the death of the victim
What are the two different types of indirect causes for proximate causation?
- Dependent
- Independent
What is a dependent cause?
When the intervening force is a result of or response to the defendant’s act
If you injure someone that gets negligent medical treatment and they die, are you the proximate cause of that death?
Yes, because it is foreseeable that as a result of the injury, the victim will seek medical help
What is a superseding dependent cause?
When a dependent intervening cause is a totally normal response to the defendant’s act, it supersedes the defendant’s act
If you run over someone with your car and they have serious but not deadly injuries, and the doctor criminally negligently treats her, and she dies, where does causation lie?
With the doctor because that is totally abnormal and breaks the chain of causation
What is an independent cause for proximate cause?
One that would have occurred regardless of the defendants act
If you strike a victim with a hammer and he loses consciousness, and another person shoots and kills him, how would you classify the act?
It is independent because it would’ve happened regardless of your hammer blow
Are pre-existing conditions considered intervening forces?
No
If you have hemophilia and you bleed to death from a wound, does that make the defendant not the cause of death?
No
If others fail to intervene, does that take the liability away from the defendent?
No
What is a superseding independent cause?
Independent intervening causes that supersede the defendant’s act, except when the force is foreseeable
If you come home in a snowstorm and try to kill your wife, and she escapes and hides outside where she dies of exposure, was it foreseeable that she would die from being left outside?
Yes, so you were the cause of her death
