Criminal Law Flashcards
(10 cards)
Mens Rea
MPC Mens Rea Standards
Forms of mens rea — intent requirements differ by crime:
Specific intent crimes — D must have a subjective desire or objective to commit the given crime
* The CL crimes that require intent are (FIAT):
* First-degree murder
* Inchoate offenses — attempt, soliciation, and conspiracy
* Assault w/ intent to commit battery
* Theft offenses — larceny, larceny by trick, false pretenses, embezzlement, forgery, burglarly, and robbery
* Certain defenses (e.g., voluntary intoxication, unreasonable mistake of fact) are available only for specific-intent crimes
Malice crimes (e.g., common-law murder, arson) — require reckless disregard of a high risk of harm
General intent crimes (e.g., manslaughter, battery, rape, kidnapping, false imprisonment) — require only the intent to perform an unlawful act
MPC Mens Rea Standards
1. Purposely — D’s conscious objective is to engage in the conduct or to cause a certain result
2. Knowingly — D is aware or knows that the result is practically certain to occur based on the conduct
3. Recklessly — D acts w/ a conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk
4. Negligence (objective standard) — D fails to become aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk
Mistake of Fact or Law
Mistake of fact — available as a defense only if it negates a requisite intent element for the crime
* Common Law
* Specific-intent crimes — Any mistake of fact is a defense
* Malice & general intent — Only a reasonable mistake of fact is a defense
* MPC
* It is a defense if the mistake prevents the prosecution from establishing the required state of mind for a material element of the crime
Mistake of law — almost never a defense
* Common law
* It is generally no defense even if the mistake is reasonable
* MPC
* D’s lack of knowledge of a criminal statute is no defense
* But D’s honest mistake of law may be a defense if it negates the requisite mental state
Transferred Intent Doctrine
Transferred intent may supply the required intent when D causes harm to a different V or object than intended
* Often applies to homicide, battery, and arson
* Does not apply to attempt
Effect — under transferred intent, D is usually charged w/ two crimes:
* Attempt (to commit the originally intended crime); and
* The actual resulting crime (merger does not apply b/c there are different Vs)
Accomplice Liability
Requirements; Scope; Defenses; Accessory after the fact
Requirements — to be liable as an accomplice, one must:
* Aid or abet before or during a crime
* With the intent to assist the principal and that the principal commit the crime (i.e., with the requisite mens rea)
Scope of liability — target and foreseeable crimes
Defenses — accomplice can avoid liability by withdrawing from a crime before the principal commits it; accomplice must:
* Repudiate prior aid
* Do all that is possible to countermand the prior aid; and
* Do so before the cin of events is in motion and unstoppable
Accessory after the fact
* Involves helping a known felon escape arrest or conviction
Note: being an accomplice or accessory is not itself a crime
Responsibility
Insanity
Intoxication
Infancy
Four legal insanity tests:
* M’Naghten — D doesn’t know right from wrong because of a mental disease or defect
* Irresitible Impulse — D acted due to an irresistible impulse beacuse of a mental illness (i.e., unable to conform conduct to the law)
* Durham — but for his mental illness, D would not have acted
* MPC — combination of M’Nagthen & Irresistible Impulse
Intoxication
- Voluntary intoxication — serves as a defense to specific-intent crimes—and under the MPC, to crimes w/ a “purposely” or “knowingly” mental state—if the intoxication prevents the formation of the requisite mental state
- Involuntary intoxication — a defense to all crimes when the intoxicant negates an element of the crime
Infancy — CL rule:
* Under 7 years old — no criminal liability
* 7-14 years old — rebuttable presumption against criminal liability
Homicide
Murder
Statutory Modifications
Voluntary Manslaughter
Involuntary Manslaughter
Common-Law Rule
Murder — the unlawful killing of another with malice aforethought:
1. Intent to kill
2. Intent to cause serious bodily harm
3. Depraved/malignant heart — a killing committed w/ reckless indifference to an unjustifiable risk of human life
4. Felony murder — killing caused during the attempt or commission of an inherently dangerous felony (BARRK crimes)
Limitations on liability for felony murder
* Victim’s death must be a foreseeable result (i.e., proximate cause) of the felony
* D is not liable for a bystander’s death caused by a felony victim or police (majoirty view)
* D is generally not guilty of a felony murder when a victim or police officer kills a cofelon
* The underlying felony, as the lesser included offense, typically merges into the felony-murder charge
Statutory Modifications
First-degree murder — arises if a killing is either:
* Deliberate & premeditated
* Felony murder
Second degree murder — a homicide not arising to first-degree murder
Voluntary Manslaughter — a homicide committed with malice aforethought and mitigating circumstances (i.e., heat of passion or imperfect defense)
* Heat of passion — D provoked by situation likely to infame reasonable person & insufficient time for ordinary person to cool off
* Imperfect self-defense — many states reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter if: D started the altercation needing self-defnse, or D unreasonably belived dedadly force was necessary
Involuntary Manslaughter — an unintentional homicide committed w/ criminal negligence (recklessness under the MPC) or during an unlawful act. An unlawful act can arise in two ways:
* A killing committed in the commission of a malum in se misdemeanor, such as assault or battery or
* Any killing caused during the commission of a felony not giving rise to felony murder
Burglary; Arson; Rape; Robbery; Kidnapping
Crimes Against Property
Larceny; Larceny by trick; False pretenses; robbery; extortion; burglary; arson
Larceny
* Taking
* Carrying away
* Without consent
* D already in lawful possession of the property + conversion = embezzlement
* The use of fraud or duress vitiates consent = larceny by trick — D acquires possession; false pretenses — D acquires title
* Intent to permanently deprive
Robbery — assault or battery + larceny
Extortion — taking of property by threat
Burglary
* A burglary D who did not compelte the underlying felony is also guilty of the attempted commission of that felony
Arson
* The malicious burning of another’s dwelling
* MPC: Intentionally causing a fire or explosion to destroy a building or occupied structure
Crimes Against Persons
Battery — The unlawful application of force to another that causes that person bodily harm or constitutes an offensive touching
Assault — An attempt to commit battery OR intentionally placing another in apprehensio of imminent bodily harm
False imprisonment — The unlawful confinment of a person without that person’s consent
Kidnapping — The unlawful confinement of a person against that person’s will coupled with either movement or hiding of the person
Inchoate Crimes
Merger — modern law applies the merger doctrine to solicitation and attempt
Solicitation — enticing, encouraging, requesting, or commanding another person to commit a crime witht he intent that the other person commit the crime
* MPC allows renunciation as a defense, but CL does not
Conspiracy — an agreement between two or more people to commit a crime or unlawful objective. A conspirator is liable for the conspiracy and all substantive crimes committed by co-conspirators acting in furtherance of the conspiracy
* An overt act in furtherance of the target crime (not a requirement at CL)
* Unilateral vs. bilateral — at CL, two or more people must have criminal intent, but MPC allows only one party
* Withdrawal
* Common Law: No defense
* Majority Rule: Withdrawal is permitted before the overt act, but D must give notice to co-conspirators or timely notify the police
Attempt — a substantial step towards the commission of a crime (beyond mere preparation), coupled with the specific intent to commit the crime
Note: for conspiracy, withdrawal here refers to withdrawal from the conspiracy, which is itself a crime, but withdrawal is always possible for the substantive (i.e., the target) crime, regardless of whether the CL, majority rule, or the MPC applies, so long as D gives notice to co-conspirators or timely notifies the police
Defenses
Self-Defense — one who is not the aggressor is justified in using reasonable force against another person to prevent immediate unlawful harm to himself. Deadly force may be used in self-defense only if reasonably necessary to:
* Prevent death or serious injury or
* Prevent the commission of a serious felony involving a risk to human life
Duty to Retreat — no duty to retreat before using nondeadly force
* Majority view — retreat is not required even when deadly force is used in self-defense
Initial aggressor — an initial aggresor may gain the right to act in self-defense if:
* The aggressor’s nondeadly force was met with deadly force or
* The aggressor, in good faith, withdrew from the altercation and communicated that fact to V
Defense of Property
* Non-deadly force may be used to protect property when D has no time to seek assistance from law enforcement
* Force used cannot be unreasonably disproporionate to the perceived harm
