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Question 0

What is the redline rule?

Answer 0

There is no felony murder liability when a non-felon kills a felon, but there is liability when a non-felon kills another non-felon, or a felon kills another felon

Question 1

What is the majority position for vicarious responsibility of co-felons?

Answer 1

All felons are liable for any homicide that happens during the commission of a felony

Question 2

If a victim aims at a felon, but misses and kills a bystander, who is liable?

Answer 2

The felons, because a non-felon killed another non-felon

Question 3

What are the exceptions to vicarious responsibility for a nonviolent co-felon?

Answer 3

• D didn’t commit the homicide or solicit it
• D wasn’t armed with a deadly weapon
• D had no reasonable grounds to believe that any of his co-felons were armed
• D had no reasonable grounds to believe that any of his co-felons intended to engage in conduct likely to result in death/GBI

Question 4

All parties are guilty for deviations from the common plan in a felony situation that are the what?

Answer 4

Foreseeable consequences of carrying out the plan

Question 5

Would an accidental shooting during an armed robbery be a foreseeable deviation from the plan?

Answer 5

Totally

Question 6

All parties are guilty for deviations from the common plan that are the foreseeable consequences of carrying out the plan and also for unforeseeable what?

Answer 6

Deaths, like heart attacks, that happen during the felony

Question 7

What would be one exception to co-felon vicarious liability?

Answer 7

If a co-felon does something that is so far removed from the plan as not to be foreseeable, and the others had no idea it was going to happen, and it doesn’t further the plan

Question 8

If a co-felon rapes and kills a woman while waiting for the others to arrive, and that wasn’t part of the plan, are the others responsible for that death?

Answer 8

No, because it was far removed from the plan, wasn’t foreseeable, they had no idea it was going to happen, and it didn’t further the plan

Question 9

What happens to vicarious liability for co-felons in situations where an independent intervening event occurs?

Answer 9

Unforeseeable acts of third parties that are not privileged by an affirmative defense cut off liability

Question 10

If you burgle a home, and that person goes crazy and starts shooting down the street, and kills a neighbor, are you responsible?

Answer 10

No, because it was an independent intervening event that was unforeseeable and not justified, so his act was illegal and cut off your liability

Question 11

If a justification is present for the underlying crime of FM, then what happens?

Answer 11

It transforms the label from murder into no crime

Question 12

What are the four different justifications that would transform a crime into no crime?

Answer 12

• victim engaged in crime
• self-defense
• defense of others
• reasonable mistake

Question 13

What are the two reactions that are justified if a victim is engaged in crime?

Answer 13

• crime prevention

* apprehension of a fleeing felon

Question 14

How are your actions justified if you were trying to prevent someone from committing a dangerous felony?

Answer 14

Only if deadly force is reasonably necessary

Question 15

When are you justified in apprehending a fleeing felon?

Answer 15

If the fleeing felon poses a significant threat to police/public

Question 16

When are you not justified in apprehending a fleeing felon?

Answer 16

If the felon was just running away, you cannot use deadly force

Question 17

When is proportional force not necessary in a self-defense situation?

Answer 17

When you have to consider the parties involved. If a very small, weak man is confronted by a large body builder, it is possible that a punch from the bodybuilder could kill the small man, so if he reacts by shooting the bodybuilder, that might be justified

Question 18

What are the two positions on whether a reasonable mistake is considered a justification or not?

Answer 18

• majority: allows it, if the mistaken belief is reasonable and in good faith
• minority: does not allow it

Question 19

How is a mistaken belief reasonable?

Answer 19

If a reasonable and prudent person in the same situation would have made the same mistake

Question 20

How is the mistaken belief made in good faith?

Answer 20

If this particular defendant made the mistake

Question 21

If you walk down the street and see your enemy approach, knowing you have both sworn to kill each other, but not knowing he has chosen to bury the hatchet, so when he raises his arm to wave, you think he is pulling out a weapon, and you shoot and kill him. Could that be a reasonable mistake that would count as a justification?

Answer 21

If you reasonably and in good faith believed you were being threatened, that is a justification

Question 22

What are the four excuses that can transform a murder into no crime, or a lesser crime?

Answer 22

• Youth
• Insanity
• Involuntary intoxication
• Mitigation to voluntary manslaughter

Question 23

How can youth be an excuse to murder?

Answer 23

• A child that is under seven is incapable of committing a crime
• 7 to 14 is rebuttably incapable

Question 24

What does it mean to be rebuttably incapable of something?

Answer 24

Presumption of incapability, but evidence can prove otherwise by showing the person knew what he was doing

Question 25

How is insanity an excuse for murder?

Answer 25

Defendant has a legal excuse for his behavior, and the final label is no crime

Question 26

How is involuntary intoxication an excuse for murder?

Answer 26

If it produces a mental impairment equal to insanity

Question 27

Is voluntary intoxication an excuse for murder?

Answer 27

No

Question 28

What is manslaughter?

Answer 28

Unlawful killing of another human being without malice aforethought

Question 29

What is considered legal provocation?

Answer 29

Anything that would cause a reasonable man to lose his self-control

Question 30

When might you be charged with voluntary manslaughter in a self-defense situation?

Answer 30

If you’re defending yourself, but under the circumstances you couldn’t raise self-defense to excuse your act entirely

Question 31

When can you have voluntary manslaughter?

Answer 31

If there was provocation, extreme emotional distress, or imperfect self-defense

Question 32

What are the ways that a crime can be mitigated down to voluntary manslaughter?

Answer 32

• good faith mistake
• provocation, or
• coercion/necessity

Question 33

What is MPC voluntary manslaughter?

Answer 33

Killing that is committed under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance for which there is a reasonable explanation or excuse. Doesn’t require a specific act of provocation (can just act from emotional/mental distress).

Question 34

What are the ways that MPC voluntary manslaughter is different from common-law voluntary manslaughter?

Answer 34

• doesn’t require an act of specific provocation
• emotions other than rage are included
• from the viewpoint of a reasonable person in the defendant’s shoes
• cooling time is not an issue because focuses on the defendant’s emotional disturbance at the time of the killing, not his reaction to the provocation
• words alone are enough
• diminished capacity is acknowledged

Question 35

Is diminished capacity applicable to common-law voluntary manslaughter?

Answer 35

No, because it conflicts with the reasonable man standard that presumes a person without serious mental and emotional defects