Midterm

Question 1

Actus Reus

Answer 1

• Voluntary criminal action.
• Robinson v. California - “cannot make it a crime for a person to be ‘addicted to narcotics’
• People v. Decina - “Defendant has seizure while driving
• Can be an omission - failure to act.
• May be liable for failure to act in certain circumstances.
• Must have a legal duty to act - ex) Child neglect and filing tax returns.
• Can just be action but also words ‘threats’
• People v. Beardsley ‘Duty to help an overdosing friend’
• Barber v. Superior Court ‘Doctor takes a patient off life support.
• Kitty Genovese Case - Morality v Criminality ‘ all people heard murder happening but didn’t do anything about it. No one was liable.

Question 2

Mens Rea

Answer 2

• “Mental State or Guilty Mind”

- Not the same as motive

Question 3

General Intent

Answer 3

Intent only to do the actus reus of the crime without any specific intent. ex. Trespass

Question 4

Specific Intent

Answer 4

The intention to commit an act for the purpose of doing some additional future act, to achieve some further consequences. ex. Common Law Burglary

Question 5

Levels of Mens Rea

Answer 5

Intentional/Purposeful
Knowing
Reckless
Negligent
Mens Rea

Question 6

Intentional

Answer 6

Conscious objective to cause result, or engage in conduct, specific to intent to do something ex. burglary

Question 7

Knowing

Answer 7

Aware that your conduct can harm, or harm exists. ex. receipt of stolen property

Question 8

Reckless

Answer 8

Aware of and consciously disregard a substantial risk. ex. DUI

Question 9

Negligent

Answer 9

Fails to perceive a substantial, unjustifiable risk that harm will occur, gross deviation from what reasonable person would do. ex. driving in snowy roads at a high speed

Question 10

Transferred Intent

Answer 10

The person is criminally liable even when the consequence of his or her action is not what the actor actually intended. ex. defendant intends to shoot and kill his wife, misses, and the bullet hits his neighbor next door. ex. drive by shooting, intent transfers.

Question 11

Felony Murder

Answer 11

Liable for murder if you cause the death of a person during the commission of a felony, even if you never intended to kill anyone.

• type of transferred intent.
• inherently dangerous felonies.
  ex. robbing a bank, 1 person kills someone, all 3 people get charged with murder. intention to engage in felony so all 3 get blamed for murder

Question 12

Strict Liablity

Answer 12

“action alone”
(Do not need mental state)
The action is illegal, and the person can be convicted regardless of the mens rea.
ex. statutory rape, speeding, DUI, and bigamy

Question 13

Open Fields

Answer 13

Property lacking expectation of privacy.
4th amendment does not protect open fields
possesses no expectation of privacy.
ex. Oliver v. US - purpose of 4th amendment and access.

Question 14

Plain View

Answer 14

exception to the warrant requirement.
Must be ‘legally situated’ in the location and it must be ‘immediately apparent’ that it is, contraband, fruits of a crime, instrumentalities of a crime, or other evidence.
AZ v Hicks - moving stereo equipment to check serial number - NOT plain view.
Also plain feel, plain smell.

Question 15

Fruit of a Poisonous Tree

Answer 15

Evidence that is obtained illegally. It is thrown out of potential evidence against defendant.

Question 16

Knock and Announce Rule

Answer 16

Law enforcement officials must knock and announce their presence so the homeowner knows they’re there and so they don’t think it’s a burglar.
Depending on size of the house the officers give a specific amount of time before forcibly entering the home.

Question 17

Partiularity

Answer 17

A warrant must identify the place to be searched that moves any uncertainty about the premises that are to be searched. Requires a street address, and description of the structure and the surrounding area likely will be reasonable. The warrant must also describe the items that are to be seized in the search so the police can’t confiscate other items such as jewelry. The police can search the areas where the items are most likely to be found.

Question 18

Attempt

Answer 18

Criminal attempt is an act, although done with the intention of committing a crime, falls short of completing the crime.
2 elements:
- a specific intent to commit the crime
- an overt act in furtherance of it

Question 19

Conspiracy

Answer 19

An agreement with another person to engage in a crime to be performed and the commission of an overt act by one of the conspirators in furtherance of the conspiracy (Need agreement and overt act)

Question 20

Terry v. Ohio

Answer 20

Basis for stop and frisk.
specific facts and circumstances that lead an officer to make believe criminal activity may be afoot.
Allows officer to briefly stop/detain and pat down outer clothing

Question 21

Katz v. US

Answer 21

Expectation of privacy in a phone booth-
Adapts the reasonable expectation of privacy test for searches. Subjective and Objective.
Subjective - did the person exhibit a reasonable expectation of privacy?
Objective - society recognizes the expectation as reasonable.
4th amendment protects people not places.
Court says YES - Katz went in phone booth and expected his conversation of be private.

Question 22

Kyllo v. US

Answer 22

Heat sensing cameras. Thermal imaging device detects heat coming from marijuana growing operation. Raises the question - do homeowners have reasonable expectation of privacy of home.
Privacy in home is higher
Privacy in public is lower
Supreme court decided that -
People have reasonable expectation of privacy in home.

Question 23

Search Incident to Arrest

Answer 23

Must be contemporaneous
Preston v. US - suspects arrested, car driven to station and searched - NOT contemporaneous.
US. v. Edwards - inventory search when suspect gets to jail.

Question 24

Voluntary Manslaughter

Answer 24

2nd Degree Murder in PA - No premeditation.
Killing someone while driving drunk or texting while driving. You knowingly used the alcohol and cell phone and hit the person.

Question 25

1st Essay - general elements of crimes

Answer 25

A crime requires an actus reus and mens rea (criminal act and a mental state). They must be present at the same time, temporal and motivational. Actus Reas - someone voluntarily commits a crime.
The person has a mental state or guilty mind from committing the act.
There must be a legal crime in order for a crime to be a crime. There must be a relationship between the legally forbidden harm and the act itself. The criminal act must lead to the harm without a long delay.

Question 26

2nd Essay - Katz v US (Reasonable expectation of privacy)

Answer 26

4th Amendment- The right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Adapted the reasonable expectation of privacy test for searches.

Katz went into a photobooth to speak about drug trade. The police put a bug on the phone booth and Katz argued that he expected privacy to his conversation upon entering the phone booth because it was a private conversation. He argued the 4th amendment should protect him. The court agreed with Katz and said, he went in the phone booth and expected privacy so he should in return get to have a private conversation. Is Katz expectation reasonable and does society recognize it as such?

Police would have needed a warrant to wiretap the phone booth that Katz was speaking into.

Question 27

Probable Cause

Answer 27

Facts and circumstances within officers’ knowledge, and of which they have reasonably trustworthy information, that would warrant a person of reasonable causation to believe that an offense has been or is being committed.

Question 28

Reasonable Suspicion

Answer 28

A police officer may undertake an investigative stop of a suspect where he or she has an objective, factual basis to suspect that “crime is afoot”; the suspect has engaged in, is about to engage in, or is engaging in criminal activity. This determination is based on the totality of the circumstances, and no single fact may be determinative. Factors to consider include the suspect’s actions, nervousness, and evasiveness; frequency and type of criminal activity in the area; time of day; and the officer’s prior knowledge of the suspect.

Question 29

Difference between Probable Cause and Reasonable Suspicion

Answer 29

Probable cause is based on information that the officer obtains from a credible trustworthy source that is supported by facts. Reasonable suspicion is based on what the officer thinks in a certain situation. It is seen more as a guess or hunch. Officer believes the person is up to something but doesn’t have factual information.

Question 30

When is each required (Probable cause and reasonable suspicion)

Answer 30

Police only need reasonable suspicion to stop an individual and question him or her. They may search for weapons if they believe the person is armed or presents any imminent threat to the officer. Probable cause must exist for the police to arrest someone and obtain a search warrant.