General Principles
This type of crime requires no mens rea to be committed.
What is strict liability crimes.
True or False. The Rule of Retreat applies to the use of all force.
False. The rule of retreat only applies to the use of deadly force. The victim of the aggression MUST retreat UNLESS:
1. No place of complete safety is reasonably available; or
2. The attack was so sudden, fierce, violent that he/she has no chance to retreat; or
3. D was a non-aggressor and was attacked in his own home. (Castle Rule)
Second degree murder is broken down into 4 crimes:
1. Intentional murder
2. Intent to inflict Serious Bodily Injury (SBI)
3. Depraved Heart Murder
4. Felony Murder
The elements of larceny are:
1. trespassory
2. taking away/caption
3. asportation/ carrying away
4. personal property
5. of another
6. with the intent to permanently deprive owner of its use/ intent to steal
True or False. A landlord cannot commit a burglary.
False.
"with intent to..." signifies this kind of intent
what is Specific intent crimes.
This burden requires a certain degree the plaintiff must make to a particular finding.
What is the Standard of Proof. The standard of proof is the degree of certainty required to make a particular finding. The burden of proof/persuasion relays to who must establish the issue. (i.e., the defendant has the burden of raising affirmative defenses)
The difference between 1st degree and 2nd degree intentional murder is:
premeditation
The person in physical control of property has custody AND NOT POSSESSION IF:
a.
b.
c.
a. They only have temporary and extremely limited authorization to use the property, they are being overlooked/ have immediate oversight;
b. they received the property from their employer for use in employment obligations; or
c. they obtained the property through fraud (Larceny by Trick)
The elements of Robbery are:
1. the use or threat of force
2. trespassory
3. taking (caption)
4. personal property
5. from another
6. with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive/intent to steal.
The four types of culpability:
1. Purposefully (intentionally)
2. Knowingly (aware & certain)
3. Recklessly (conscious disregard)
4. Negligently (reasonable person should know)
A crime with a general intent mens rea element can be disproven with what kind of mistake?
Mistake of fact, but it must be an honest and reasonable mistake.
The elements of felony murder are as followed:
1. Defendant
2. Engaged in conduct or an omission that
3. Caused the death
4. Of another
5. During the commission
6. Of a felony
7. That does not merge with the homicide.
What are the two doctrines that follow element's numbered 5 & 7?
5. Res Gestae Doctrine
7. The Merger Doctrine
What must be true of the false statement provided in a theft by false pretenses scenario?
1. the facts must actually be untrue
2. past or current facts
3. facts v. beliefs or opinions.
The difference between common law burglary and statutory burglary is:
Common law requires the Def. to break into a dwelling at night time, whereas statutory law only requires Def. break into a building, regardless of time.
There are two types of concurrence that are needed to commit a crime:
Temporal and Motivational. Temporal concurrence is absent if the actus reus comes before the mens rea (D doesn't mean to kill V but later is happy V is dead). Motivational concurrence is the mental state needed to complete the crime, it cannot be an accident (the mens rea activates the actus reus).
Imperfect self-defense arises when the accused has an actual subjective belief that he/she is in apparent imminent danger of death and/or that the amount of force used was proportional, but that belief is not objectively reasonable. Under these circumstances, the murder is mitigated to________________.
Voluntary Manslaughter
the difference between depraved heart murder and involuntary manslaughter is the _______ standard that requires ...
Objective standard that requires depraved heart to have a high probability of death v. involuntary manslaughter that requires a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death.
How are embezzlement and theft by false pretenses different?
Theft by False Pretenses requires a voluntary transfer of title, while Embezzlement requires a conversion - a trespassory taking and carrying away by a person in lawful possession of property.
True or False. Your client comes to you after an intervention with her neighbor looking for advice. Your client was checking her mail when her neighbor comes from behind her with a frightening mask, and demands "GIVE ME YOUR MAIL". Client shoves over her mail and rushes inside horrified. Later that evening, neighbor brings the mail back, because he never intended to actually receive it, and apologizes for scaring her. Client wants to know if the neighbor can be charged with robbery as the neighbor took her mail for some hours. You advise her yes. This is correct.
False. Here, the facts indicate that the neighbor was playing a harmless prank and never intended to steal the neighbors mail. Furthermore, the facts never state the neighbor using violence or a threat of. Your client handed over her mail to the neighbor. If the neighbor would have said something along the lines of, "or else" there could be an argument for intent and using force.
Defendant and Victim were good friends until victim “stole” Defendant's Boyfriend. Defendant wasn't angry enough to kill Victim, but wanted to keep Victim away from Boyfriend so on July 4, 2022 she invited Victim to go for a ride with her. Defendant drove to a remote location and pushed Victim over the side of a cliff, hoping to scare her into staying away from Boyfriend. Friend was found unconscious but alive by some mountain climbers the next day. She was taken to the hospital where she laid in a coma as a result of the injuries she sustained in the cliff incident and died on August 1, 2023.
Can Defendant be held criminally responsible for Victim's death?
No because the causation element is not satisfied.
The elements of self-defense are:
1. actor (who is not initial aggressor) subjectively believes, and has objectively reasonable grounds for believing, that the use of deadly force was necessary under the circumstances
2. actor subjectively believes and has objectively reasonable grounds for believing that the amount of force used was proportional under the circumstances
While walking down the street one night, Victim was stopped by a robber who held her at gunpoint and demanded that she give him her purse. When Victim hesitated, the robber hit her over the head with his gun. Having second thoughts about the robbery, the robber dropped the gun and started running away. At this point Victim grabbed the gun and shot at the fleeing robber. The bullet missed the robber, but hit a passing pedestrian, killing him instantly. Victim was arrested in relation to pedestrian’s death.
What is the most serious offense of which Victim can be convicted?
Voluntary Manslaughter. Victim acted in the heat of passion in response to rubber hitting victim over the head with his gun (this constitutes adequate provocation) and there was no sufficient cooling period.
Name an Employee/Employer Rule:
(hint!! there's 3)
1. if an employee converts property delivered to him by a third person for his/her employer before the goods have reached their destination, it is embezzlement - not larceny.
2. If an employee takes the property without the employer's consent after it has been delivered, it is larceny - not embezzlement.
3. if the property is delivered to the employee by the employer for use in the employment, and employee keeps/takes it, it is larceny. (custody)
When must the intent exist to commit a common law burglary?
The intent to commit felony must exist at time of entry. There is no requirement that the felony have actually been committed, just that the Def intended to commit it.