MBE Crim Flashcards
Misses (10 cards)
Innocent Agent
A person is guilty if he/she personally commits a crime or uses an innocent agent to commit the criminal acts. An innocent agent is a person who lacked the requisite mens rea but was tricked or forced into committing the crime.
Accomplice Scope
An accomplice is someone who (1) intentionally aids or encourages the principal before or during a crime (2) with the specific intent that the crime be completed. But mere presence at the scene of a crime does not make a person an accomplice.
Auto Exception
The automobile exception to the warrant requirement allows police to conduct a warrantless search of a vehicle if they have probable cause to believe it contains evidence of a crime. Officers can search any area within the vehicle where the evidence might be located, including locked containers.
Warrantless Stop of Vehicle
A warrantless vehicle stop is a reasonable Fourth Amendment seizure if the officer has an objectively justifiable basis for the stop—ie, reasonable suspicion or probable cause. The officer’s subjective motivation is irrelevant.
Accomplice Liability generally
In most jurisdictions, an accomplice can be convicted even if the principal was never tried for, or convicted of, the aided/encouraged crime.
Statute of Limitations on Indictment
An indictment should also be dismissed if the statute of limitations—a statutory time limit for prosecuting a defendant for a crime—has expired before a prosecution has commenced. A statute of limitations starts to run (ie, the time limit begins) once all the elements of the crime have occurred. This helps ensure that defendants can adequately defend themselves with evidence and facts that have not been obscured by the passage of time.
Second Prosecution for Same Offense
Double jeopardy does not prohibit a second prosecution for the same offense when (1) the defendant was convicted of a lesser offense at the first trial, (2) the second prosecution involves a greater offense, and (3) the facts necessary to prove that offense did not exist during the first trial.
Common Law Murder if only seeking to cause injury?
A person who did not intentionally kill another may still be guilty of common law murder if he/she acted with (1) the intent to cause serious physical injury, (2) a reckless disregard of an obvious or high risk to human life, or (3) the intent to commit an inherently dangerous felony.
“Community of Interest” Conspiracy
A conspiracy can exist among individuals who do not know each other when there is a community of interest in the achievement of the objective of the conspiracy. A community of interest typically exists when each alleged conspirator plays a role in reaching that objective.
MPC Voluntary Intoxication
Under the Model Penal Code, voluntary intoxication is a defense to crimes that require the defendant to have acted purposely or knowingly. To prevail on this defense, the defendant must prove that his/her intoxication prevented the formation of the requisite mental state.
