Criminal Homicide
Under the common law, this required mental element—encompassing intent to kill, intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, depraved-heart recklessness, or felony murder—is what distinguishes murder from manslaughter
What is malice Aforethought?
In causation analysis, an independent human act or force of nature that arises after the defendant's voluntary conduct but before the resulting social harm occurs is termed this
What is an intervening cause?
At common law, this offense is defined as "the unlawful application of force to the person of another"
What is battery?
Under Model Penal Code § 2.01(2), involuntary bodily movements that cannot serve as the basis for criminal liability include convulsions, unconscious movements, hypnosis, and this automatic muscular response
What is a reflex?
For result crimes, this standard test establishes cause-in-fact by determining whether the prohibited result would not have occurred without the defendant’s conduct
What is the "but-for" test?
Under this common law rule, a defendant’s conduct could not be legally deemed the cause of death if the victim survived beyond this specific period of time following the defendant's acts
What is the "Year and a Day" rule?
Under the Dressler superseding cause factors, an intervening failure to act—such as a parent neglecting to seek medical care—does not break the causal chain because of this maxim
What is "nothing does not supersede something" (the omissions factor)?
At common law, this general intent felony is defined as "the malicious burning of the dwelling house of another"
What is arson?
Under the Model Penal Code, the critical boundary between recklessness and negligence is that a reckless actor is consciously aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk, whereas a negligent actor is not aware of the risk but should be
What is conscious awareness (or conscious disregard) of the risk?
In an "acceleration case" involving sequential injuries, the but-for test is reformulated to ask whether the social harm would have occurred at this specific parameter
What is "when it did"?
Under this common law rule, these two elements distinguish murder I from murder II's intent-to-kill classification.
What are premeditation and deliberation?
This classification of intervening cause occurs in direct response or reaction to the defendant's conduct and does not break the causal chain unless it is abnormal and freakish
What is a responsive (or dependent) intervening cause?
This specific intent crime is defined as "the trespassory taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with the intent to permanently deprive the possessor of the property"
What is larceny?
Under Jones v. United States, an omission breaches a legal duty where a defendant voluntarily assumes the care of a helpless individual and takes this action to isolate them from third-party aid
In Oxendine v. State, the father’s manslaughter conviction was reversed because the state's medical testimony failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his non-lethal blunt trauma did this to the child’s demise following prior lethal injuries
What is accelerated (or hastened) the death?
Under the common law rule of provocation (Girouard v. State), an intentional killing in the sudden heat of passion cannot be mitigated from murder to voluntary manslaughter if the provocation consisted solely of this
What are words alone (or informational words)?
Illustrated in Regina v. Michael, an intervening actor will not break the causal chain under this doctrine if the defendant intended the resulting harm and it occurred in the general manner desired
What is the intended-consequences doctrine?
This specific intent crime consists of "breaking and entering the dwelling house of another at nighttime with the intent to commit a felony therein"
What is burglary?
Examined in People v. Conley, this common law legal fiction holds that when an offender intends to strike or kill one person but accidentally strikes another, the intent transfers to the unintended victim
What is the doctrine of transferred intent?
When two defendants act independently and simultaneously inflict mortal wounds, each of which by itself was sufficient to cause death, the but-for test fails and courts apply this narrow doctrine to hold both liable
What is the substantial factor test?
Under Model Penal Code § 210.3(1)(b), a homicide that would otherwise be murder is mitigated to manslaughter if committed under the influence of this disturbance, evaluated from the viewpoint of a person in the actor's situation under the circumstances as the actor believes them to be
What is Extreme Mental or Emotional Disturbance (EMED / EED)?
Under State v. Preslar, a defendant who exposes a victim to danger is relieved of proximate cause liability if the victim successfully reaches this condition, but subsequently leaves it to risk further harm
What is apparent safety?
At common law, this specific intent crime requires Intent to defraud
What is forgery/embezzlement?
Under the common law framework illustrated in People v. Navarro, an unreasonable, good-faith mistake of fact can still successfully exculpate a defendant charged with this classification of offenses, provided it negates the required mental element
What is a specific intent crime?
Under Velazquez v. State, even when a drag racer's conduct is a but-for cause of a co-participant crashing into a canal, criminal liability may be declined if the result was beyond this element.
What is the scope of danger created?