Solicitation
Communicate
Merges
Conspiracy
Overt Act
Pinkerton
Accomplice
Foreseeable Act
Higher Culp.
Attempt
Not prep
Specific Intent
Murder (1st)
Intent/Premed
IDF Murder
Murder (2nd)
Intent/NoPremed
Reckless/Malice
Defenses
Self/Property
Necess/Duress
Misdemeanors: Assault, Battery, Stalking, Drug Cultivation/Distribution/Possession/Misrepresentation/Proceeds, Theft <$5,000
Falsely reporting a crime, Identity Fraud, Disorderly Conduct, Giving a False Alarm, Manslaughter
Inherently Dangerous Felonies: Robbery, Aggravated Robbery, Theft >$,5000, Burglary; Other: Bribery, Identity Theft, Murder
VMS: heat of passion; imperfect self-defense IMS: reckless; non-IDF felony/misdemeanor murder; lawful act in unlawful manner
Statutory Interpretation
Mochan: Common law crimes are punishable by criminal law. [Lewd and Lascivious Phone Calls]
Keeler*: Any exclusion from a statute is interpreted as intentional by the legislature. [Fetus Kicker]
In re Banks: A statute is void for vagueness if it does not inform men of common intelligence of its meaning and application.
Morales*: Impermissibly vague statutes violate the Due Process Clause of the fourteenth amendment. [Gang Ordinance]
Muscarello: Where there is ambiguity in a criminal statute, doubts are (not always) resolved in favor of the defendant. [Carry]
Flores-Figueroa*: Courts ordinarily read a phrase in a criminal statute that introduces the elements of a crime with the word
“knowingly” as applying that word to each element. (A required culpability applies to each element of a crime.) [Identity Theft]
Duty
Synopsis of Rule of Law: There is no criminal liability for failure to act unless there is a legal duty to act.
Beardsley*: A moral duty to act does not per se constitute a legal duty to act. [Mistress Morphine Overdose]
Barber*: Although there may be a legal duty to provide life-sustaining support in the immediate aftermath of an injury, there is
no duty to continue its use once it has become futile in the opinion of qualified medical personnel. [Doctors Stop Life-support]
Williams: Parents have a duty to provide medical care for their child under the exercise of ordinary caution. [Tooth Ache Death]
Actus Reus
Synopsis of Rule of Law: A person must voluntarily commit the crime charged in order to be guilty of the crime.
Martin*: A forced appearance is not voluntary and does not satisfy the element of “appearance” in a criminal statute.
Utter: Unconsciousness that is voluntarily induced through the consumption of alcohol or drugs is not a complete defense.
Mens Rea
Cordoba-Hincapie: No mens rea is required for strict liability crimes (e.g., public welfare offenses). [Mens Rea DEF]
Garnett: Mental retardation is not a defense to strict liability crimes. [Statutory Rape]
Staples*: The public welfare offense rationale should not be used to interpret felony statutes. [Automatic Weapon]
Conley: Intent can be inferred if D is consciously aware that the harm defined is practically certain to be caused by his conduct.
Nations*: A person acts knowingly with respect to attendant circumstances when he is aware that those circumstances exist.
Marrero: A reasonable mistake of law does not relieve a defendant of criminal liability. [Correctional Officer]
Cheek*: A good faith belief does not need to be objectively reasonable to negate specific intent. [Taxes]
Navarro*: A genuine mistake of fact need not be reasonable to constitute a defense if it negates a required mental element.
(If no specific intent or other special mental element is required for guilt of the offense charged, a mistake of fact will not be
recognized as an excuse unless it was based upon reasonable grounds, to exculpate general intent.) [Worthless Wooden Beams]
Cause-in-Fact
Oxendine*: Contribution to or aggravation of death without acceleration of death is insufficient to establish the causation.
Rose*: If one of two acts results in death, the trier of fact must find a concurrence of the elements. [Dead Man Draggin’]
(Under the circumstantial evidence rule, to find an accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, it is necessary not only that
evidence be consistent with a conclusion of guilt but it also must be inconsistent with any reasonable hypothesis of innocence.)
Proximate Cause (Legal Cause)
Rideout*: Proximate cause ends after a defendant’s active force has come to rest in a position of apparent safety. [Car Crash]
(Proximate causation analysis is not a matter of applying hard and fast rules leading to some scientifically "correct" outcome;
instead, it is based on policy considerations and matters of fairness to determine the extent of a defendant’s liability.)
Velazquez*: A victim’s volitional reckless act constitutes an intervening cause and breaks the chain of causation. [Drag Race]
Typically, an intervening cause will be: (1) "an act of God," i.e., an event that cannot be traced back to any human intermediary;
(2) an act of an independent third party, which accelerates the harm caused by the defendant; or (3) an act or omission of the
victim that assists in bringing about the outcome.
Homicide / First Degree Murder
Eulo: The definition of death is the irreversible cessation of breathing and heartbeat OR entire brain’s functioning. [Brain Death]
Guthrie*: There must be some evidence that D considered and weighed his decision to kill in order to establish premeditation.
Guthrie*: Premeditation may consist of any interval of time btwn forming the intent to kill and the execution of that intent as
long as it is of sufficient duration for the accused to be fully conscious of what he intended. [Dishwasher needs to “Lighten Up”]
Midgett*: Physical abuse that results in death is not evidence of premeditation or deliberation. [Child Abuser not Murderer]
Forrest: Circumstances that determine whether D acted intentionally & w/ premeditation: (1) lack of provocation by the victim;
(2) D’s conduct/statements before & after killing; (3) D’s threats/declarations before & during the killing; (4) ill-will between the
parties; (5) dealing of lethal blows after V was rendered helpless; and (6) evidence of the killing being done in a brutal manner.
Homicide / Felony Murder
Fuller*: Flight following a felony is considered part of the same transaction as long as the felon has not reached a place of
temporary safety. Whether the defendant has reached such a place of safety is a question of fact for the jury. [Car Lot Burglary]
Smith*: Where conduct constituting a felony is the sole cause of death, the felony merges w/ the homicide into a single crime.
Sophophone*: D not guilty of felony murder for death of co-felon caused by the lawful acts of police officers. [Sitting in Car]
Howard: For 2nd degree felony murder, malice not required if killing occurs during commission of inherently dangerous felony.
Bruce*: Attempted felony murder cannot be a crime because criminal attempt is a specific intent crime and felony murder isn’t.
Homicide / Second Degree Murder
Second degree murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought but without premeditation.
Knoller*: A conviction based on implied malice requires proof that D acted with conscious disregard of the danger to human life.
Homicide / Manslaughter
Girouard: Words alone do not constitute adequate provocation to justify a conviction of manslaughter. [Lousy Fuck]
Casassa: The defense of extreme emotional disturbance has 2 principle components: (1) D must have acted under the influence
of extreme emotional disturbance and (2) there must have been a reasonable explanation or excuse for such extreme emotional
disturbance, the reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant's situation.
Hernandez*: D does not need to be aware of the risk to others from his conduct to be guilty of manslaughter. [Drinking Slogans]
Capital Punishment / Policy
Gregg: The death penalty is not cruel and unusual under the 8th and 14th amendments. [Punishment on Rack & Screw]
McCleskey: A statistical study that indicates racism factors into capital sentencing doesn’t make it unconstitutional. [Race Study]
Payne*: The 8th amendment does not per se bar a State from permitting the admission of victim impact evidence. [VIS]
Attempt
Mandujano: A criminal attempt is an unequivocal act in which the crime will be committed if not interrupted by forces
independent of the will of the attempter. [Distinction btwn Preparation & Attempt]
Miller*: Where the defendant’s actions are equivocal, the defendant cannot be guilty of attempt. [Drunk at the Post Office]
Gentry*: The crime of attempt requires intent to do an act constituting a substantial step toward committing a crime and a
specific intent to commit the crime attempted. [Poured Gasoline on Girlfriend]
Reeves: For substantial step, entire course of action must be corroborative of the intent to commit the offense. [Poison Teacher]
Peaslee*: One needs to manifest intent within a close proximity to be charged with criminal attempt. [Arsonist changed Mind]
Rizzo*: An attempt also requires a dangerous proximity to the accomplishment of the crime. [Robbers cannot find Victim]
Defenses / Attempt
Alkhabaz*: A person cannot usually be convicted of a crime they merely fantasize and write about. [Online Fiction Rape Threat]
McCloskey*: Voluntarily abandoning a crime before completion exonerates D from criminal responsibility. [Prison Breach]
Thousand: Legal impossibility is a defense to the crime of attempt, but factual impossibility is not. [Teddy Bear Pedophile Sting]
Legal impossibility: Legal impossibility occurs when the actions which the defendant performs or sets in motion, even if
fully carried out as he desires, would not constitute a crime.
Factual impossibility: Factual impossibility occurs when the objective of the defendant is proscribed by the criminal law
but a circumstance unknown to the actor prevents him from bringing about that objective.
Solicitation
Mann: Solicitation merges into the crime solicited. For example, murder, attempted murder, or conspiracy to commit murder.
Cotton*: The offense of solicitation requires some form of actual communication from the defendant to either an intermediary
or the person intended to be solicited, indicating the subject matter of the solicitation. [Don’t Testify]
Conspiracy
Carter: Virtually any act, no matter how insignificant, may suffice as an overt act. Does not merge w/ completed offense. [DEF]
Pinkerton: A defendant can be held vicariously liable for a substantive offense committed by another member of a conspiracy if:
(1) the defendant was a party to the conspiracy; (2) the offense was “within the scope of the unlawful project”; (3) the offense
was committed in furtherance of the conspiracy; and (4) the defendant could have reasonably foreseen the offense as a
necessary or natural consequence of the unlawful agreement. [Liability]
Swain*: Conspiracy to commit murder requires an intent to kill & cannot be based upon a theory of implied malice. [Brown Van]
Lauria*: Intent to further an illegal enterprise by furnishing goods or services may be inferred from knowledge under three
different circumstances: (1) when the purveyor of legal goods for illegal use has acquired a stake in the venture, (2) when no
legitimate use for the goods or services exists, and (3) when the volume of business with the buyer is grossly disproportionate to
any legitimate demand. Intent drawn from knowledge of criminal use does not apply to misdemeanors. [Call-Girl-Phone Maybe]
Azim: Among those circumstances relevant to proving conspiracy are (1) association with alleged conspirators, (2) presence at
the scene of the crime, and (3)knowledge/participation of the object of the conspiracy. [The Mugger’s Chauffer/Getaway Driver]
Cook*: Association with a criminal or knowledge of illegal activity isn’t proof of participation in a conspiracy. [Rapist’s Lil Helper]
Note: As opposed to Azim, in Cook there is actual evidence that there was no conspiracy.
Foster*: As a bilateral theory, there is no conspiracy if one of two conspirators only feigns agreement/no intent. [Fake Robbery]
(Note: Under unilateral theory, D can enter into a conspiracy to accomplish crim. obj. in which only he possesses criminal intent.)
Kilgore*: It is possible for various persons to be parties to a single agreement and thus one conspiracy, even though they do not
know the identity of one another and even though they are not all aware of the details of the plan of operation. [Murder 4 Hire]
Chain Theory: An agreement, and thus one conspiracy, is more likely to be inferred in what have been termed "chain"
conspiracies, usually involving the distribution of narcotics or other contraband, in which there is successive
communication or cooperation.
Hub & Spoke Theory: Without a rim, most of the spokes have no connection with and have not aided each other.
Accordingly, courts find that there is no common purpose or interest among the spokes and as a result that they are not
considered coconspirators.
Wheel Theory: If there is a rim, there is a wheel conspiracy and all of the spokes are considered coconspirators.
Defenses / Conspiracy
Braverman*: A defendant may not be charged with multiple conspiracies from one conspiracy agreement. [7 IRS Indictments]
Iannelli: Wharton Rule: An agreement by two persons to commit a particular crime cannot be prosecuted as a conspiracy when
the crime is of such a nature as to necessarily require the participation of two persons for its commission. [Gambling Conspiracy]
Gebardi*: A statute that punishes one party only cannot charge the other as a co-conspirator (e.g., statutory rape). [Mann Act]
Sconce: While withdrawal after an overt act is not a complete defense to conspiracy, it does mean no more Pinkerton liability.
Defenses / Self-Defense & Defense of Property
Goetz*: Reasonableness must be determined objectively based upon the circumstances facing a defendant. [$5 Subway Robber]
Norman: A killing from “battered wife syndrome” cannot be done unless death or serious bodily harm is imminent. [BWS]
Ceballos: A person is not justified in using deadly force to protect property, esp. with deadly mechanical devices. [Garage Gun]
Defenses / Necessity
Nelson: The necessity defense has 3 essential elements: 1) the act charged must have been done to prevent a significant evil; 2)
there must have been no adequate alternative; 3) the harm caused must not have been disproportionate to the harm avoided.
Unger: Necessity is available to prison escape situations where the prisoner is choosing to break the law to avoid a greater evil.
Dudley & Stephens: Necessity is never a defense to murder. [Seaborne Cannibalism]
Defenses / Duress
Contento-Pachon: Duress requires: (1) an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury; (2) a well-grounded fear that the
threat will be carried out and (3) no reasonable opportunity to escape the threatened harm. [Coke Balloon Cowboy] EXCUSE
Defenses / Intoxication
Veach*: Voluntary intoxication may negate the mens rea of a specific-intent crime. [Impeding Officers]
Defenses / Insanity
The MPC standard relieves the defendant of responsibility under two circumstances: (1) when, as a result of mental disease or
defect, the defendant lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality [wrongfulness] of his conduct; (2) when, as a
result of mental disease or defect, the defendant lacked substantial capacity to conform his conduct to the requirements of law.
Wilson: A defendant does not appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions if a mental disease or defect causes him to harbor a
distorted perception of reality and to believe that under the circumstances as he honestly perceives them, his conduct does not
offend societal morality even if he is aware that the criminal code forbids his actions. [If only they knew] Arizona: Because
allowing mental-disease evidence on mens rea can easily mislead, it is not unreasonable to address that tendency by confining
consideration of this kind of evidence to insanity, on which a defendant may be assigned the burden of persuasion. [Aliens]
Accomplice Liability
Ward: Accomplice liability is one way of committing a crime, but is not a crime in itself (unlike conspiracy). [DEF]
Hoselton*: Inquiry for Accomplice Liability: (1) Act? (2) Intend to help? (3) Intend for crime to succeed? [Vessel Lookout]
Riley: Actual causation is irrelevant so long as each defendant acted with the requisite mental state and one of the defendants
actually caused the injury or death (even if the state cannot prove which one did it). [Assisted Driveby]
Linscott: Liability for any secondary crime that may have been committed by the principal is established upon a two-fold
showing: (a) that the actor intended to promote the primary crime, and (b) that the commission of the secondary crime was a
foreseeable consequence of the actor's participation in the primary crime. [Cocaine Shotgun Robbery]
V.T.: An undisclosed intention to render aid if needed does not constitute aiding and abetting. [Camcorder Accomplice]
Jeffery: Encouragement does not have to be directly communicated to the person committing the criminal offense. [Alien Jazz]
Genoa*: While conviction of the principal is not necessary, underlying crime must have been committed. [Undercover Coke]
Bailey: One who affects a criminal act through an unwitting/innocent agent is a principal in the first degree. [Innocent Neighbor]
McCoy*: If the mens rea of the aider and abettor is more culpable than the actual perpetrator’s, the aider and abettor may be
guilty of a more serious crime than the actual perpetrator (e.g., due to defense/extenuating circumstances). [Imperfect Driveby]
Formella: Silent withdrawal does not negate accomplice liability unless it undermines the encouragement provided. [Exams]
Defenses / Accomplice Liability
Lopez*: A third party has the right to assist an actor in a justified act. [Girlfriend Helicopter Jailbreak]
In re Meagan R.: The party whose participation is not denounced by the statute cannot be charged. [Statutory Rape Robbery]
Glossary
Agreement: To establish agreement for conspiracy, the People need show no more than a tacit, mutual understanding between
coconspirators to accomplish an unlawful act.
Justification: Justification defenses are those providing that, although the act was committed, it is not wrongful. A third party
has the right to assist an actor in a justified act.
Excuse: When a defense is categorized as an excuse, however, although the act’s wrongful, the actor won’t be held accountable.
Malice: intent to kill another human being; or intent to inflict grievous bodily harm on another person; or extreme reckless
disregard for human life; or intent to commit a felony
Moral wrong doctrine: A reasonable mistake of fact, but not an unreasonable one, ordinarily exculpates a defendant prosecuted
for a general intent crime.
Legal wrong doctrine: If a defendant's conduct, based on the facts as he believes them to be, constitutes a crime--not simply an
immorality--he may be convicted of the more serious offense that his conduct establishes.
Unequivocality standard: Under the strictest version of the unequivocality standard, an act does not constitute an attempt
unless the actor's specific criminal purpose is evidence from her conduct, without considering any statement she may have
made before, during, or after the incident regarding her state of mind.
Social Harm: negation, endangering, or destruction of an individual, group, or state interest, which is deemed socially valuable.
Utilitarian Justifications: Utilitarian justifications are forward-looking and include general deterrence, individual deterrence,
incapacitation and other forms of risk management and reform.
Retributivism Justifications: Punishment is backward-looking, and strictly for punishing crimes according to their severity.
A mixed theory approach to sentencing: 1. To protect society; 2. To punish the defendant for committing a crime; 3. To
encourage the defendant to lead a law-abiding life; 4. To deter others; 5. To isolate the defendant so she can't commit other
crimes; 6. To secure restitution for the victim; 7. To seek uniformity in sentencing
Objectivism: The pattern of manifest criminality is that the offense be objectively discernible at the time it occurs (silent movie).
Subjectivism: Subjective criminality focuses on the actor's intentions, rather than on externalities.
Malum prohibita: An act is wrong because it is prohibited
Malum in se: Inherently wrongful such as rape, robbery, and murder
Strict liability: Crime that does not require a mens rea; individual may be convicted based solely on commission of a criminal act
Public welfare offenses: intended to protect society against impure food, defective drugs, pollution, and unsafe conditions
Manslaughter: adequate, provocation, killing in heat of passion, sudden heat of passion with no opportunity to cool, casual
connection between provocation, passion, and fatal act
Failure of Proof: all elements of offense charged cannot be proven
Economic necessity: A choice of evils defense cannot be based upon economic necessity. (Fontes.)
Necessity: Source is nature; negates actus reus
Duress: Source is people; negates mens rea