Homicide Flashcards
(12 cards)
What is the AR of Murder?
The unlawful killing of another human under the kings peace
When is a killing lawful?
When it is done out of self-defence
How do you establish causation for murder?
Legal and Factual causation.
Factual:
‘But for’ D’s actions, V would not have died.
Legal:
D needs to be the operative and substancial cause of death.
Acts of the victim only break the chain of causation when…
Their actions are unreasonable.
What is the MR of murder?
Intention to kill or cause GBH. Oblique intention also counts (aka seeing a virtual certainty of this outcome)
What is the AR for voluntary manslaughter?
When D has MR and AR of murder, BUT they have one of the 2 defences:
(1) Loss of control (qualifying trigger and someone like D would have done the same thing)
(2) Diminshed responsibility (when D has an abnromal functioning of mind due to a medical condition that SUSTANCIALLY impairs their thoughts etc - objective test)
THESE DEFENCES CAN ONLY BE USED FOR MURDER, WHICH MAKES THE OFFENCE MANSLAUGHTER
Describe loss of self control?
The attack does not need to be immediate followung the trigger.
Mere loss of temper is not enough.
What are the 2 qualifying triggers?
Trigger can be a cumulation of events over time.
- That D had a serious fear of violence from V against D or another person
- Things were done or said that were serious which led D to have a justifiable sense that he was wronged.
D must not have provoked or instigated the situation or have made V say things that would have made D angrier.
How and in what order will we look at loss of self control?
- Establish tht there was a loss of control. Cannot be mere temper. Must be more than this and the attack should have happened immediately and not have been delayed to satisfy this element.
- See if one of the qualifying triggers have been satisfied.
- Would a person just like D have reacted the same in the same conditions? What a normal, sober, mentally-well person (regardless of how sober D was) would do?
If diminished responsibility is being used (in voluntary manslaughter), how much weight should it have played in the manslaughter?
A substancial, significant contributing factor.
Must be from a medical condition that impairs rational thought and self control etc.
Causation: But for D’s abnormal mental functioning, he would not have killed V.
Legal causation: no break in causation. This was the major cause of V’s death.
What is the AR of UNLAWFUL ACT MANSLAUGHTER?
This is when D did not forsee V’s death, just that some harm would occur (reasonable man test).
Arises out of an unlawful act that D did.
Must satisfy the MR and AR of the unlawful act they did.
Unlawful crime = assault, battery, arson etc.
Usual factual and legal causation applies.
INTOXICATION MAY NEGATE THE SEVERITY OF THE CHARGE.
What are the elements to GROSS NEGLIGENCE MANSLAUGHTER?
Where D has a duty of care (this duty exists wherever D could forsee that their actions could harm V), and this duty was negligently breached. Standard fell below the reasonable man or a person with that special skill. The risk of death must have been clear and obvious and D took that risk. Criminal act basically.
