Criminal Law Foundations 9 - Exculpatory Defenses - Self-Defense and Mistake

Justification defenses: Defendant committed a crime but shouldn't be punished because actions were justified.
- Example: Superhero punches a bad guy to save the world (battery is justified).
Most common justification defense is self-defense.

Self-defense is using force to protect oneself from danger.
Limitations:
- Only justified when confronted with an imminent threat of harm.
- Threat must be immediate;
- "I'm going to kill you tomorrow" is not sufficient.
Level of force used matters:
- Deadly Force: Justified only to prevent death or serious bodily injury.
- Non-Deadly Force: Justified to avoid imminent injury or retain property.

Requirements:
- The person is without fault.
- Confronted with unlawful force.
- Reasonably believes they are threatened with imminent death or great bodily harm.
Example: May is approached at gunpoint and told to give money or be killed.
- May is without fault.
- Confronted with unlawful force (assault with a deadly weapon).
- May could reasonably believe she was threatened with imminent death.
- May would probably be justified in using deadly force in self defense.

Requirements:
- Without fault
- Reasonably believe that non-deadly force is necessary to protect themselves from the imminent use of unlawful force.
Don't have to be in fear for their lives.
Can use whatever force they believe is reasonably necessary.
Example: Shane threatens to beat up May if she doesn't give him $500$ .
- May boxes to stay in shape, sizes Shane up, and knocks him out.
- If arrested, May can likely claim self-defense because she used non-deadly force to meet non-deadly force.
Original Aggressor: Cannot claim self-defense because he was the original aggressor. (e.g., Shane cannot claim self-defense if he is initially charged with battery along with attempted robbery.)
Meeting Non-Deadly Force with Deadly Force: If May pulled out a gun and shot Shane in the shoulder, she couldn't use self-defense.

A person can defend others if they reasonably believe the person they're assisting has a legal right to use force in their own defense.
Majority Rule: No special relationship is needed between the hero and the person they're defending; only a reasonable appearance of the right to use force is necessary.
Example: Superhero punches a guy yanking on a grandma's purse.
- If charged with battery, they likely have a valid defense of others' defense because the grandma was facing non-deadly force, so the hero could use non-deadly force to protect her.
Even if, in reality, the grandma was the initial aggressor, the superhero can still claim defense of others if it was reasonable for them to think she had the right to use self-defense based on what they observed.

Non-deadly force can be used to protect property (preventing someone from taking or wrecking it).
Deadly force can never be used in defense of property, except in defense of a dwelling.
Defense of a Dwelling:
- When lawfully present in a home, a person may use deadly force to prevent a violent entry if they reasonably believe it's necessary to prevent an attack against them or someone else in the house.
- Deadly force can also be used if the person reasonably believes it's needed to prevent someone from entering who intends to commit a felony inside.

Relevant only if it shows the defendant lacked the state of mind required for the crime.
Not a defense for strict liability crimes.
General Intent Crimes: The mistake of fact must be reasonable.
Specific Intent Crimes: The mistake doesn't need to be reasonable.
Example: Maya takes a friend's purse, thinking it's hers because they all have the same purse.
- Mistake of fact: She mistakenly believed the purse was hers, not her friend's.
- She lacked the mens rea needed for larceny (taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with the intent to permanently deprive them of it).
- If all purses looked the same, Maya's mistake was reasonable.
- If Maya's purse was blue and her friend's was red, but she grabbed it quickly in dim lighting, her mistake was unreasonable, but she still has a mistake defense as larceny is a specific intent crime.

An honest belief that what you're doing is legal.
Generally, not a defense.
Example: Dre believes the speed limit is 70 mph and drives 67, but the actual speed limit is 50.
- Even if it was reasonable for Dre to make the mistake, it's not a defense.