Crim Law - Jule

MPC General Rule

To be guilty of a crime, one must meet the: (1) actus reus - a voluntary act or omission (2) mens rea - morally blameworthy state of mind; and (3) causation elements - linking the actus reus and mens rea to the social harm

MPC - Purposefully

A person acts "purposefully" when he is aware of the existence of such circumstances or he believes or hopes that they exist. §2.02(2)(a)(ii)

MPC - Knowingly

A person acts knowingly with respect to a material element of an offense if an actor knew that a particular fact or circumstance was highly likely and yet failed to investigate whether that fact or circumstance was truly the case; if the actor “is aware that it is practically certain that his conduct will cause such a result.”

MPC - Recklessly

A person acts recklessly if he consciously disregards a substantial and unjustified risk that the material element exists or will result from his conduct. §2.02(2)(c)

MPC - Negligently

A person’s conduct is negligent if the actor should be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element exists or will result from his conduct. §2.02(2)(c)

MPC - Omission

Liability based on omission is permitted if (1) the law defining the offense provides for it; or (2)if the duty to act is otherwise imposed by law.

Strict Liability

Under the Model Penal Code, no conviction may be obtained unless the prosecution proves some form ofculpability regarding each material element of an offense, with the exception of violations, whichare offenses that cannot result in imprisonment or probation, but may result in fines. §1.04(5)

Causation

Causation is when the act is both (1) the actual cause of the crime, i.e, the but-for cause of the crime, and (2) the legal or proximate cause of the crime, i.e., the foreseeable result of the action.

MPC - Murder

MPC does not recognize degrees of murder. An actor is guilty of murder when the actor kills another purposefully, knowingly, or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life. Extreme recklessness is non-conclusively presumed if the homicide occurs while the actor is engaged in, or is an accomplice in, the commission or attempted commission of, or flight from, one of the dangerous felonies specified in the statute. §210.2(1)(a)-(b) (Codes version of felony murder rule)

MPC - Manslaughter

An actor is guilty of manslaughter when the actor kills another: (1) recklessly; or (2) under circumstances that would ordinarily constitute murder, but which homicide is committed as the result of "extreme mental or emotional disturbance" (EMED) for which there is a "reasonable explanation or excuse". No need for provocation.

MPC - Theft

A person is guilty of theft if he unlawfully takes, or exercises unlawful control over, movable property of another with purpose to deprive him thereof. § 223.2 (also called "theft by unlawful taking")

MPC - Robbery

A person commits robbery when in the course of committing a theft he: (1) inflicts serious bodilyinjury upon another, (2) threatens a person or puts them in fear of immediate serious bodilyinjury; (3) or commits or threatens to immediately commit any felony of the 1st or 2nd degree.

False Pretenses

A person is guilty of theft if he purposely obtains property of another by deception. A person deceives if he purposely: (1) creates or reinforces a false impression, (2) prevents another from acquiring information which would affect his judgment of a transaction [information must be disclosed if there is a fiduciary duty]; or (3) fails to correct a false impression which the deceiver previously created or reinforced (theft by unlawful taking)

MPC - Intoxication

Any form of intoxication is a defense to criminal conduct if it negates an element of the offense. §2.08(1) One must be acquitted if he lacked the state of mind required in respect to an element of the crime, regardless of whether it was self- induced or not.

MPC - Insanity

A person is not responsible for her criminal conduct if, at the time of the conduct, as the result of a mental disease or defect, she lacked substantial capacity to: (1) appreciate the “criminality” of her conduct; or (2) to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law.

MPC - Self-Defense

A person is justified in using force upon another person if he believes that such force is immediately necessary to protect himself against the use of unlawful force by the other. § 3.04 (p.470).

MPC - Duress

Duress is an affirmative defense if the actor was compelled to commit an offense by the use, orthreatened use, of unlawful force by the coercer upon her or another person; and a person ofreasonable firmness in her situation would have been unable to resist the coercion.Defense is unavailable if the actor recklessly placed himself in a situation in which it wasprobable that he would be subject to duress. Or if he negligently placed himself in such asituation, whenever negligence suffices to establish the culpability for the offense charged.

MPC - Neccessity

A person's conduct is justified if (1) he believes the conduct is necessary to prevent harm to himself or another, (2) the harm being avoided is greater than the harm caused by the D and (3) no legislative intent to exclude the conduct

Common Law - General Rule

To be guilty of a crime under traditional law, the following must be present: (1) actus reus - a voluntary physical act or omission (2) mens rea - morally blameworthy state of mind; and (3) causation elements - linking the actus reus and mens rea to the social harm.

Common Law - Intentionally

A person acts intentionally if: (1) it is his conscious object or will to cause the social harm; or (2) he acts with knowledge that the social harm is virtually certain to occur.

Specific Intent: the intent to do some future act or to achieve some additional consequence. It requires proof of a specific motive.

General Intent: Any offense for which the only mens rea required is a blameworthy state of mind.

Transferred Intent: transfers the intent from the intended victim to an unintended one, but it does not transfer the intent to cause one type of social harm to another.

Common Law - Willfully

An act done with a bad purpose or with evil motive; or an intentional violation of a known legal duty or a purpose to disobey the law

Common Law - Knowingly

Default for unspecified federal law mens rea. A person has knowledge of a material fact if she: (1) is aware of the fact; or (2) correctly believes that the fact exists.

Common Law - Recklessly

Requires proof that the actor disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk of which he wasaware.

Common Law - Negligently

Occurs when there is gross deviation from the standard of reasonable care. A person acts negligently when he should be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element exists or will result from his conduct.

Common Law - Omissions

At common law a duty to act exists, when there is (1) a special relationship, (2) contractual obligation, (3) creation of a risk, (4) voluntary assistance, or (5) statutory duty.

Common Law - Strict Liability

Crimes that do not contain a mens rea requirement regarding one or more elements of the actusreus.

Common Law - Causation

For criminal liability, ds act must be an actual cause, meaning the result would not have occurred when it did “but for” the ds conduct; and he must also be the proximate cause meaning the result must be a direct and natural result of ds actions.

Common Law - Murder - 1st Degree

Murder is the killing of another person with malice aforethought. (Malice: motivated by ill will. Aforethought: premeditation.) An actor is guilty of 1st degree murder when there is a willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing. A killing is willful if there was a specific intent to kill, it is deliberate when the consequences have been considered, and it is premeditated if it was planned.

• Deliberate = weighing the reasons for and against the action and considering the consequences of the action

• Premeditate = the mental process of thinking beforehand

• Willful = the intent to kill

Common Law - Murder - Felony

An actor is guilty of felony murder if a death results from conduct during the commission or attempted commission of an enumerated felony.

Common Law - Murder - 2nd Degree

An actor is guilty of 2nd degree murder when there is: (1) an intentional killing with no premeditation and deliberation (2) an intent to inflict grievous bodily harm which resulted in death (3) a depraved heart (extreme recklessness), or (4) a death that occurs during the commission of an enumerated felony.

Common Law - Manslaughter - Voluntary

Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of another without malice aforethought. Voluntary manslaughter occurs when an actor commits an intentional killing in a “sudden heat of passion” before a reasonable cooling off period has elapsed

as a result of adequate provocation.

To mitigate murder to manslaughter: (1) the actor must have acted in the heat of passion (2) the passion must be the result of adequate provocation (3) must not have had a reasonable opportunity to cool off; and (4) there must be a causal link between the provocation, the passion, and the homicide.

Common Law - Manslaughter - Involuntary

Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of another without malice aforethought. An actor is guilty of involuntary manslaughter if the killing involves a gross deviation from the standard of care that reasonable people would exercise in the same situation.

Common Law - Larceny

Larceny is a trespassorial taking and carrying away of another's personal property with the intent to permanently deprive (animus furandi) the owner of the property. It is a conduct crime, so destruction or conversion is not necessary.

Common Law - False Pretenses

A person who knowingly does a false representation of an existing fact to obtain title to the personal property of another person with the intent to cheat or defraud the other person.

Common Law - Intoxication - Voluntary

Voluntary intoxication is not a defense to general-intent crimes. Voluntary intoxication is a defense to specific-intent crimes. A person is not guilty of an offense if, as the result of his intoxication at the time of the crime, he was incapable of forming or did not in fact form, the specific intent required in the definition of the offense.

Common Law - Intoxication - Involuntary

A person who is involuntarily intoxicated has a complete justification for any crime where voluntary intoxication is a defense. They should be acquitted of any general intent crimes, but not specific intent.

Common Law - Mistake of Fact

Any mistake of fact, whether reasonable or unreasonable, is a defense to a specific intent crime. For a general intent crime, a mistake of fact excuses only (1) if it was reasonable and (2) if the defendant’s conduct would have been lawful had the facts been as he believed them to be.

Common Law - Insanity - M’Naughten

A person is insane if, at the time of the act, they were under such a defect of reason, arising from a disease of the mind, that: (1) they did not know the nature and quality of the act or (2) if they did know it, they did not know the difference between right and wrong.

Common Law - Insanity - Irresistible Impulse Test

A person is insane if, at the time of the offense: (1) she “acted from an irresistible and uncontrollable impulse”; (2) she “lost the power to choose between right and wrong” or (3) the “defendant’s will has been destroyed, so that her actions are beyond her control.

Common Law - Self Defense

Self-defense can be used when a person reasonably believes such force is necessary to protect himself from imminent use of unlawful force by the other person. Deadly force is only justified in self-protection if the actor reasonably believes that its use is necessary to prevent imminent and unlawful use of deadly force by the aggressor.

Common Law - Duress

A person will be acquitted of any offense, except murder, if there is (1) an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury, (2) a reasonable fear that the threat will be carried out, and (3) no reasonable opportunity to escape the threatened harm.

Common Law - Necessity

When natural forces beyond the actor’s control compels one to choose the lesser of two evils.Defendant must show: (1) choice of evils and chose the lesser evil; (2) imminent harm; (3) directcausal relationship between their conduct and the harm to be averted; (4) no legal alternatives toviolating the law.

Burglary

The unlawful entry into a structure with the intent to commit a felony or theft within.

Embezzlement

Defendant came into possession of personal property of another in a lawful manner, as theresult of entrustment by or for the owner of the property, and thereafter fraudulently orunlawfully converts or appropriates the property.