Criminal Law Midterm

Types of Crimes

1. Ordinance violations & infractions.

2. Misdemeanors.

3. Felonies.

Burden of Proof

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: So confident in the viaduct that there is no doubt that the defendant may be innocent and another responsible.

Jury Nullification

Jury finds proof beyond a reasonable doubt but does not convict.

Proportionality of Punishment: Eighth Amendment

“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive find imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”

Proportionality of Punishment: Supreme Court (Two Lines)

1. Challenges to the length of terms of the years sentenced. 

   1. Challenges in which court has adopted categorical bans on sentencing practices based on mismatches of culpability and severity of punishment. 

Utilitarian Justifications

Punishment should be used to prevent greater evil.

Retributive Justifications

Punishment should be graded in proportion to desert-deserved punishment and moral culpability, giving society the duty to punish.

General Considerations of Criminal Culpability [Rule]

Generally, criminal culpability requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt of Actus Reus, Mens Rea, Causation, and Harm. More specifically, one must determine the elements of a specific statute the defendant is charged with and define the type of elements the statute contains.

Actus Reus (Common Law) [Rule]

Before there can be a crime, there must be a criminal act. The act must be a voluntary, volitional movement of the body causing the criminally proscribed result. The act requirement may also be satisfied by an “omission” or failure to act under circumstances imposing a legal duty to act. A bad thought standing alone cannot result in criminal liability.A

Actus Reus - Voluntary Act

Volitional physical movement that causes a certain result.

Omission

A legal duty to act knowing them to be in peril for their life with reasonable and proper efforts to help them but fails. There is no legal duty UNLESS:

1. State imposes duty.

2. Protective relationship status.

3. Contractual duty.

4. Assumption of care and seclusion of other aid, and

5. Creates risk of harm and fails to prevent it.

Actus Reus (Model Penal Code) Not Voluntary Acts

Voluntary act are not: reflexes, convulsions, unconsciousness, sleep, hypnosis, not the product of will, conscious, or habitual.

Actus Reus (Model Penal Code) Possession

Possession is an act; knowingly procured or aware of his control over an object.A

Active Possession

Direct physical control

Construction Possession

Access to or the right to control.

Joint Possession

Two or more people have the active or constructive possession at the same time. 

Transitory Possession

Possession only for a moment. M

Mens Rea (Common Law) Intent

Conscious objective or purpose to get a result or engage in conduct.

Mens Rea (Common Law) Knowingly

Consciously aware that a results practically certain to be caused by the conduct.

Mens Rea (Common Law) Willfully

On purpose or intentionally.

Mens Rea (Common Law) Recklessness

Disregard of a substantial or justifiable risk they were aware of.

Mens Rea (Common Law) Negligence

Deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would have taken.

Mens Rea (Common Law) Malice

To act intentionally or recklessly.

Mens Rea (Common Law) Transferred Intent

When a defendant intends to cause harm to one person but accidentally causes harm to another, the defendant is still liable. 

Mens Rea (MPC) [Rule]

A person is not guilty of an offense unless he acted purposefully, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently, as the law may requirer with respect to each material element of the offense.

Mens Rea (MPC) Purposely

A person acts purposely with respect to a material element of an offense when:

1. Result Element: Conscious object to cause such a result.

2. Conduct Element: Conscious object to engage in the conduct.

   1. Attendant Circumstance: Aware, believes, or hopes they exist.

Mens Rea (MPC) Knowingly

A person acts knowingly with respect to a material element of an offense when:

1. Result Element: Practically certain his conduct will cause the result.

2. Conduct Element: Aware of existence.

   1. Attendant Circumstance: Aware of existence.

Mens Rea (MPC) Recklessly

A person acts recklessly with respect to a material element of an offense when: 

1. Consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element exists or will result from conduct.

2. The risk must be of a nature that, considering the actor’s conduct and circumstances known to him, its disregard involves a gross deviation.

Mens Rea (MPC) Negligently

A person acts negligently with respect to a material element of an offense when:

1. Should be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element exists or will result from conduct.

   1. The risk must be of such a nature that the actor’s failure to perceive it, considering the nature of his conduct and the circumstances known to him, involves a gross deviation.

Mens Rea (MPC) Culpability Required Unless Otherwise Provided

When the culpability sufficient to establish a material element of an offense is not prescribed by law, such element must meet the standard of recklessly or more.

Mens Rea (MPC) Prescribed Culpability Requirement Applies

When the law describes culpability, it must apply to each material element.M

Mens Rea (MPC) Transferred Intent

Purposefully or knowingly causing a result that differs from the designed purpose or knowledge only when a different victim is harmed. 

Material Elements of an Offense

1. Conduct Element: Nature of the forbidden conduct.

2. Result Element: The Result of the conduct is the harm.

   1. Attendant Circumstance: Must be present for crime to have occurred.

General v. Specific Intent (Common Law) Purpose

Used to determine:

1. Mistake of Fact or Mistake of Law: Used to determine the mental state that applies to the crimes attendant circumstance elements when, on its face, the statute appears to require no mental state.

   1. Evidence of the Effects: Used to determine when, in common law, the evidence of the effects.

General Intent (Common Law)

When there is no particular mental state set out in the definition of a crime.

1. Prosecutor only needs to prove the social harm of the crime was performed with a moral blameworthy state of mind.

   1. Intent to commit an act that is unlawful.

Specific Intent (Common Law)

The offense is called a specific intent offense if, on the face of the statute, it requires proof of: 

1. A special motive or purpose for committing the act; 

2. Intent to commit some future act; or 

   1. Awareness (knowledge) of an attendant circumstance element. 

Temporal Concurrence

Lack of concurrence occurs when mens tea of an offense exists before or after but not during the commission of the actus Reus.

Motivational Concurrence

Motivation behind the act causing the social harm must be the mens era of the offense, not some other though, such as mental state of preparing the commit the act.

Harm

Social Harm: Loss suffered from a crime, can be experience by the victim and society.

1. Conduct Crimes

   1. Result Crimes: The result is the main harm.

Causation (Common Law) Actual Cause

An actor’s conduct is the BUT-FOR cause of the result, the result would not have occurred when it did but for the actor’s conduct.

1. Purpose: Serves to eliminate candidates of responsibility. C

Causation (Common Law) Accelerating Result

The actions of either party accelerate the result cause by the other party so that both parties are the Actual Cause of the crim.

Causation (Common Law) Concurrent Sufficient Causes

Each act alone is sufficient to cause the result that occurred when it did.

1. Substantial Factor Test: Actual causation can be found when there are multiple causes, and the defendant’s act was a substantial factor in causing the result.

Causation (Common Law) Proximate Cause

Actual cause identifies initial candidates for responsibility, from this pool, the proximate or legal cause o the social harm must be selected.C

Causation (Common Law) Direct Cause

If no event of causal significance intervened between the defendants conduct and social harm, the defendant is being prosecuted for an act that is the DIRECT cause of social harm also qualifies. 

Causation (Common Law) Intervening Causes

An independent force (but for cause) that operates in producing a result but only comes into play after defendant’s voluntary act has been committed or omission has occurred.

Causation (MPC) Actual Causation

Common Law - But for Cause

The model penal code recognizes this common law principle but states that the result in question should be described as: death from two mortal wounds.

Causation (MPC) Proximate Causation

Ultimate Question: Was the way the result came about “too remote or accidental” in its occurrence to have a just bearing on the actor’s liability?

When culpability can be imputed, when the defendant lacked it, with respect to how the actual result came about, not that it came about.

Defenses (Common Law) Mistake of Fact 

Negation of Intent: Mistake of fact may negate criminal intent but it must be an honest mistake.

Mistake of Fact (Common Law) Strict Liability

Defendant’s mistake does not negate strict liability crimes.

Mistake of Fact (Common Law) Specific Intent

Defendant is NOT guilty if the mistake negates the specific intent in definition of the crime, even if the mistake was Unreasonable.

Mistake of Fact (Common Law) General Intent

Defendant is not guilty if the mistake was reasonable, but guilty if the mistake was unreasonable

Mistake of Fact (Common Law) Moral Wrong

Guilt remains even if the statute does not require the attendant circumstance that the defendant is mistaken about.

Mistake of Fact (Common Law) Legal Wrong

Guilty when mistake is only to a degree of crime or gravity of offense.

If the defendant’s conduct caused social harm prohibited by more serious offenses, he is guilty of the greater offense even if there is mistake over the attendant circumstances.

Defenses (Common Law) Mistake of Law

Once it is determined that the defendant is asserting a Mistake of Law claim the default legal position is the defendant’s mistake will not exculpate the defendant [3 exceptions].

Mistake of Law (Common Law) Reasonable Reliance or Entrapment by Estoppel

Government provides legal misinformation to the defendant. Because of the defendant’s reliance on this misinformation, defendant is excused for her violation of the offense.

Mistake of Law (Common Law) Reasonable Reliance [Test]

In general, a person may only reasonably rely on a statement of the law contained in: 

1. A statute later declared to be invalid, 

2. A judicial decision of the highest court in the jurisdiction; or 

3. An erroneous interpretation of the law secured from a public officer in charge of the interpretation, administration, or enforcement of the United States. 

Exclusions: Reliance is not permitted where

1. Defendant relies on her own erroneous reading of the law even if it was reasonable.

   1. Defendant relies on the erroneous advice provided by private counsel.

Mistake of Law (Common Law) Nature of Criminal Statute

Fair Notice:

The nature of the criminal statute itself prevents the defendant from receiving fair notice of the existence of the statute.

Limited Circumstances Where:

1. The state punishes an omission (failure to do something),

2. The duty of the act was imposes based on a status rather than the basis of an activity, and

   1. The offense is not inherently immoral but is prohibited by statute.

Mistake of Law (Common Law) Failure of Proof

Different Law:

Mistake of law because there is lack of mens red because the defendant had no knowledge of another law.

1. The mistake relates to another law.

2. Determine if the crime is specific, general, or strict liability.

3. If specific, not guilty IF the mistake negates specific intent even if the mistake is unreasonable.

   1. General or Strict: Reasonable or unreasonable is not a defense.

Defenses (MPC) Willful Blindness

1. Defendant must subjectively believe there is a high probability that a fact exists.

2. Defendant must take deliberate actions to avoid learning the act or purposely fail to investigate to avoid confirmation of the fact.

3. So, the defendant is still culpable.

Defenses (MPC) Mistake of Fact

1. No general or specific intent; either the defendant had the mental state or did not. 

2. Defendants mistake of fact negates a required mental state depending on the state required.

3. Legal Wrong: No defendant when defendant would be guilty of another offense anyways.

Defenses (MPC) Mistake of Law

Not a defense UNLESS:

1. Reasonable Reliance:

   1. Defendant relies on official erroneous statement, and

   2. Statement is in statute, judicial decision, administrative order, or grant of permission, or interpreted as a public official, and

   3. Reliance is not otherwise reasonable.

2. Fair Notice:

   1. Conduct was illegal,

   2. Statute is not known to defendant, and

   3. Statute was not published or reasonably made available to her before violation.

Larceny [Rule]

The trespassers taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with intent to permanently deprive the possessor of the property.

Material Elements:

1. Trespassory taking and

2. Carrying away

3. The personal property of another

4. With the intent to steal.

Conduct Crime, Specific Intent Crime

Larceny Element Definitions

1. Trespassory Taking: Act to take possession of the victim’s personal property, he dispossesses the victim without consent.

2. Personal Property of Another: Applies to personal property only, once the items are severed from land they can constitute personal property. Of another person.

3. Intent to Steal: Intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property.

4. Concurrence of Mens Rea and Actus Reus required.

Larceny Custody v. Possession

Custody: Only has access for a temporary period and access is substantially restricted by the person in constructive possession. 

May only be in custody of the item if: 

1. Received the property from her employer for use int he employment relationship. 

2. Is a bailee of goods enclosed in a container. 

3. Obtained the property by fraud.

Possession: Sufficient dominion and control to use the item in a reasonably unrestricted manner. 

Embezzlement [Rule]

Lawful possession and fraudulent or unlawful appropriation.

Elements:

1. Defendant came into possession of the personal property of another in a lawful manner.

2. Defendant thereafter fraudulently converted the property (intended to deprive permanently), and

3. Defendant came into lawful possession of the property as a result of entrustment by or for the owner of the property.

Theft by False Pretenses [Rule]

False representation of an existing fact knowing it was false with the intent to defraud.

Elements

1. False representation,

2. Of an existing fact,

3. Knowing it was false,

4. With the intent to permanently deprive.

Burglary [Rule]

Breaking and entering the dwelling house of another in the nighttime with the intent to commit a felony therein.

Elements

1. Breaking and entering

2. The dwelling house of another in the nighttime

3. With the intent to commit a felony therein.

Specific Intent Crime, Concurrence Required