Murder, She Wrote?
A state statute provided that “it is unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle without traction devices, tire chains, or snow tires upon any street or highway, under icy or snowy conditions, when the highway is marked or posted with signs for the requirement of traction devices, chains, or snow tires.” A package-delivery truck driver, operating a truck without any inclement-weather equipment, was delivering packages when an ice storm enveloped the region, reducing visibility and covering the roads with ice. While on route to a delivery, the driver skidded into an icy intersection, striking and killing another motorist. The road was marked with signs requiring traction devices, tire chains, or snow tires.
Under the common law, what offense, if any, did the driver most likely commit?
A - Involuntary manslaughter.
B - Voluntary manslaughter.
C - Reckless homicide.
D - No offense.
A thief stole a briefcase from an unlocked car. As the thief was carrying the briefcase away, a witness across the street shouted at the thief to stop. The thief shouted at the witness to mind her own business “or else” and fled.
In the majority of modern American jurisdictions, did the thief commit a robbery?
A - Yes, because the thief took personal property belonging to another.
B - Yes, because the thief threatened the witness with force.
C - No, because the thief took the briefcase without using or threatening force or causing fear in the victim.
D - No, because the car was unlocked, the thief did not need to break into the automobile to steal the briefcase.
A rambunctious teen was wildly shooting a pellet gun in a parking lot, trying to break car headlights. One of the pellets narrowly missed a bystander.
Is the teen subject to liability for common-law attempted murder of the bystander?
A - Yes, because the teen intended to discharge the pellet gun.
B - Yes, because the pellet could have killed the bystander.
C - No, because the teen lacked the specific intent to kill the bystander.
D - No, because the bystander was not killed.
A second-grade teacher, who was angry at his school district for freezing salaries and reducing retirement benefits, decided to protest by refusing to dismiss his students at the end of the day. At dismissal time, the teacher advised his students that they were not permitted to leave and that, if they tried to leave, they would face disciplinary consequences. None of the students attempted to leave. After hours of negotiations with school officials and law enforcement, the teacher released the students, unharmed, at around midnight.
In a modern, majority-rule jurisdiction, did the teacher commit common-law kidnapping?
A - Yes, because the teacher did not have parental consent to keep the students after dismissal time.
B - Yes, because the teacher breached his fiduciary duty to his students.
C - No, because the teacher’s actions were a protest.
D - No, because the teacher did not transport the students to another location.
A man lived adjacent to the state fairgrounds, which were separated from his backyard by a chain-link fence on the man’s side. The state fair ran for one week a year, during which time a barn was used to showcase livestock on the fairgrounds near the man’s backyard. People entering and exiting the barn were easily observable from the man’s backyard. The man regularly set up tin cans in front of the fence and shot at them for target practice. The first day that the state fair was underway, the man set up the cans and took his target practice as usual. However, one of the bullets passed through a can and struck a person exiting the barn on the fairgrounds, killing the person.
Which of the following levels of mens rea for homicide is the most serious level of which the man is likely guilty?
A - Intentional homicide.
B - Knowing homicide.
C - Reckless homicide.
D - Negligent homicide.
A drug dealer arranged for the sale of a small quantity of illegal narcotics. The dealer was unarmed, but the buyer was carrying a concealed gun when she arrived to complete the sale. The police had been tracking the deal and arrived at the scene to arrest the parties. The buyer and the police exchanged fire, and both the buyer and a police officer were killed. The dealer was charged with murder in a jurisdiction that has adopted the Model Penal Code (MPC). The dealer was acquitted.
What fact, if changed, might have made the prosecution successful?
A - If the dealer had illegally carried a gun at the time of the sale.
B - If the dealer had punched a police officer once the gunfire began.
C - If the dealer had attempted to rob the buyer in order to keep both the drugs and the money.
D - If the sale had been for a large quantity of illegal narcotics.
During her lunch break from work, a woman picked up her diamond necklace from a jewelry repair shop. The woman locked the necklace in her car and returned to work. At the end of the work day, the woman returned to her car and discovered that the driver’s side window was broken and that the necklace had been stolen. The police apprehended the thief shortly after the theft.
In a common-law jurisdiction, which of the following crimes did the thief most likely commit by stealing the necklace?
A - Burglary.
B - Robbery.
C - Both burglary and robbery.
D - Neither burglary nor robbery.
A participant in a conspiracy to commit credit-card fraud decided to leave the conspiracy and live a law-abiding life. The participant manifested a complete and voluntary renunciation of his criminal purpose.
Which of the following correctly indicates the minimum additional steps that the participant must take to successfully assert a defense of renunciation?
A - Nothing further; the participant has successfully renounced by no longer participating in the conspiracy.
B - Inform the other participants of his withdrawal.
C - Nullify any assistance provided to the conspiracy.
D - Prevent the success of the conspiracy’s target crime.
A defendant was on trial for common-law rape. The female victim alleged that the male defendant had intercourse with her against her will.
Which of the following facts, if true, would most support the defendant’s acquittal of common-law rape?
A - The victim previously had been sexually involved with other men.
B - The victim offered no corroboration of the rape.
C - The defendant honestly and reasonably believed the victim had consented.
A bomber wishing to kill his neighbor attached an explosive device to the neighbor’s car that would detonate when the car’s ignition was started. The bomber knew that his neighbor and his neighbor’s wife routinely drove the car to work on weekday mornings. As planned, the device detonated when the neighbor started the car’s ignition, killing him and his wife.
Under the Model Penal Code (MPC), what mens rea did the bomber have?
A - Purposeful.
B - Knowing.
C - Willfully blind.
D - Purposeful and knowing.
A methamphetamine manufacturer was preparing methamphetamine over an open flame in her apartment building when she accidentally started a fire that killed two of her neighbors. The manufacturer was convicted of common-law felony murder based on her methamphetamine-manufacturing conviction.
Which of the following facts, if true, would most support the manufacturer’s common-law felony-murder conviction?
A - The jurisdiction applies the felony-murder rule to the typical inherently dangerous felonies.
B - The jurisdiction applies the felony-murder rule to the typical inherently dangerous felonies.
C - The jurisdiction does not recognize the merger doctrine.
D - The jurisdiction has adopted the Model Penal Code’s (MPC) definition of reckless felonies.
A bank teller was skimming money from customer deposits by falsifying the bank’s deposit records to reflect a deposit amount less than the actual amount that the customers presented for deposit and keeping the difference for herself.
Which of the following crimes did the bank teller most likely commit?
A - Larceny from the bank.
B - Larceny from the bank’s customers.
C - Embezzlement from the bank.
D - Embezzlement from the bank’s customers
A 19-year-old man asked a 25-year-old woman to buy a six-pack of beer for him. The relevant jurisdiction prohibits any person of legal drinking age from providing any alcohol-containing beverage to any person under the legal drinking age.
Which of the following facts, if true, would most support absolving the man of liability for solicitation under the Model Penal Code (MPC)?
A - The man did not offer to pay the woman to buy him the beer.
B - The woman did not think the man’s request was genuine.
C - Buying alcohol for an underage person is a misdemeanor.
D - The legal drinking age in the state is 18 years old.
A restaurant owner detonated a homemade bomb in her restaurant, causing an explosion that damaged the restaurant and the second-floor apartment above it.
In most modern American jurisdictions, which of the following factors does NOT determine whether the restaurant owner committed arson?
A - Whether the owner detonated the bomb for an unlawful purpose.
B - Whether the owner intended to detonate the bomb and destroy or damage the property.
C - Whether the property is considered a dwelling.
D - Whether the owner also owns the second-floor apartment.
A thief approached a pedestrian and grabbed her purse, attempting to steal it. The pedestrian resisted by pulling her purse closer. While the thief and pedestrian were wrestling with the purse, the pedestrian pulled a can of pepper spray from her pocket and sprayed the thief in the face. The thief immediately released the purse and fled.
In a common-law jurisdiction, which of the following considerations is NOT relevant to determining whether the pedestrian’s actions were lawful?
A - Whether the pedestrian commanded the thief to stop the attempted theft.
B - Whether the pedestrian’s use of pepper spray constituted deadly force.
C - Whether the pedestrian lawfully possessed the purse.
D - Whether the purse, or its contents, had more than a de minimis value.
After drinking at his favorite bar all day long and becoming very intoxicated, the defendant pulled out a gun to reenact a scene from a movie he had seen the other day. Pointing his gun at a bystander, he slurred a line from the movie and pulled the trigger. He was shocked to see the bystander fall down dead with a bullet in him. Due to his intoxicated state, the defendant cannot remember pulling out or firing the gun.
A state statute defines all murders as second degree murders unless deliberation and premeditation can be shown, in which case the crime is elevated to first degree murder.
A – First Degree Murder
B – Second Degree Murder
C – Manslaughter
D – No Crime
A drug dealer had hidden a stash of illegal drugs in the dealer’s bedroom closet. A housemate of the dealer regularly stole small quantities of drugs from the dealer’s closet stash and used them.
Does the housemate’s conduct satisfy the requirements for common-law larceny?
A woman agreed with two other people to rob a series of convenience stores. Together, the trio successfully robbed a total of seven stores. The woman then informed her two partners that she would not be participating in any more robberies. Two weeks later, the other two participants were arrested in the course of attempting to rob an eighth store. These two informed the police that the woman was involved in the prior seven robberies.
What are all the charges, if any, that the woman could be guilty of in a state that applies the common law?
A - Seven counts of robbery only.
B - Seven counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery. #48
C - Seven counts of robbery and seven counts of conspiracy to commit robbery.
D - Seven counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery, and eight counts of conspiracy to commit robbery.
A man worked at a shop. At the end of every day, he was entrusted by the shop owner to take the money from the shop to the bank. One day as the man collected the money, he began to daydream about keeping the money for himself and going to a foreign country. He decided that this was a crazy idea and that he would never get away with it. However, he had lost track of time, and by the time he got to the bank, it was closed. The man took the money home and the next morning deposited the full amount when the bank opened.
In a common law jurisdiction, which of the following crimes, if any, did the man commit?
A - Larceny.
B - Embezzlement.
C - False pretenses.
D - No crime.
A man was drinking in a bar when another patron accidentally bumped into him, causing the man’s beer to spill. The patron apologized, but the man forcefully shoved the patron, knocking him to the ground. The man turned back to the bar and ordered another beer. The patron then stood up and punched the man. The man pulled out a gun and shot the patron. The patron was killed by the shot.
In a subsequent criminal charge against the man in a common law jurisdiction, which of the following arguments would be most helpful in establishing that the man acted in self-defense?
A - The man was the initial aggressor.
B - The man made a clear and sincere withdrawal when he turned around and ordered another drink.
C - The patron’s action of punching the man was an escalation of the situation created by the man’s shove.
D - The patron and the man were equally matched in physical strength.
A hacker gained access to a computer network in order to steal bank account numbers. Unbeknownst to the hacker, the network also controlled the local power grid. The hacker was unsuccessful in stealing bank account numbers, but the hacker’s intrusion shut down the power grid, and several people were killed as a result. Hacking into a computer network is a felony in the jurisdiction.
Is the hacker likely to be charged with first-degree murder based on the felony-murder rule?
A - No, because the hacker was unaware that the network controlled the power grid, and mens rea is required by both the common law and the Model Penal Code.
B - No, because computer hacking is not the kind of felony that is typically found to be “inherently dangerous” or that is typically listed as a statutorily enumerated predicate felony for the felony-murder rule.
C - Yes, because a felony that results in death gives rise to strict liability under the felony-murder rule under both the common law and the Model Penal Code.
D - Yes, because bank robbery is the kind of felony that is typically found to be “inherently dangerous” or that is typically listed as a statutorily enumerated predicate felony for the felony-murder rule.
A thief took a set of wireless headphones from an electronics store without paying for them.
Which of the following determinations would most support acquitting the thief of common-law larceny?
A - The thief did not enter the electronics store unlawfully.
B - The thief did not use force to take the headphones.
C - The headphones were not anyone’s personal property.
D - The headphones were recovered immediately following the incident.
Two teens were standing in a grocery-store line behind a customer who had a $100 bill protruding from his back pants pocket. One teen whispered to the other, “take it!” The second teen did not respond. The first teen continued to gesture at the bill while mouthing “take it” at the second teen. The second teen did not take the bill before the bill’s owner completed his business and left the store.
Does the first teen’s conduct constitute solicitation under the Model Penal Code (MPC)?
A - Yes, because the first teen encouraged the second teen to steal the bill.
B - Yes, because the second teen heard the first teen’s words.
C - No, because theft of $100 is a misdemeanor.
D - No, because the second teen did not steal the bill.
A warehouse employee for a publishing company regularly took home books and sold them online directly to purchasers, keeping the proceeds.
In a Model Penal Code (MPC) jurisdiction, what crime did the warehouse worker most likely commit?
A - Embezzlement.
B - False pretenses.
C - Larceny.
D - Theft.
A speeding motorist ran a red light and struck a pedestrian in a crosswalk. While the pedestrian was being transported to the hospital in an ambulance, a truck driver struck the ambulance. The pedestrian was pronounced dead at the second accident scene.
Which of the following is irrelevant to whether the first motorist could be held criminally liable for the pedestrian’s death?
A - Whether the first motorist’s actions were a but-for cause of the pedestrian’s death.
B - Whether the second accident was reasonably foreseeable.
C - Whether the second accident was too inadvertent to hold the first motorist responsible.
D - Whether the truck driver accelerated the pedestrian’s harm.