Bar Cards - Cl

Front 1

Murder - Generally

Back 1

Occurs where the defendant acts against the victim in such a way that causes the death of the victim, and this was the intended result.

Front 2

Murder - Cause

Back 2

Cause requires the ∆'s act to be the "but-for" cause and the legal cause of the victim's death:

• no cause is established if an intervening and unforeseeable act occurs; however if the victim is killed by the "natural and probable" consequences of ∆'s actions there is cause

Front 3

Murder - Intent (Intent-to-kill)

Back 3

Intent to kill exists where the ∆ consciously desires to kill another or makes the resulting death inevitable:

• an inference of intent-to-kill is raised through the intentional use of deadly weapons;
• ∆'s statements can establish intent to kill

Front 4

Murder - Intent (Intent to cause serious bodily harm)

Back 4

Intent to cause serious bodily harm satisfies the requisite mental state required to prove murder, and is established if ∆ intended or consciously desired to seriously harm victim, or if that was the substantially certain result.

Front 5

Murder - Intent (Depraved Heart Murder)

Back 5

An unintentional killing resulting from wanton indifference to human life or conscious disregard of an unreasonable risk of death.

Front 6

Murder - Felony Murder

Back 6

Intent sufficient to satisfy the requisite mental state to prove murder is established in a felony murder, where a killing is caused during the commission of an inherently dangerous felony.

Limitations include:

• the death must be collateral, i.e.-not the purpose of the felony (maj. rule);
• the death must occur between the start and finish of the felony;
• no felony murder for deaths by non-felons (maj. rule)
• large minority allow no felony murder for unarmed co-felons w/o knowledge that violence would occur.

Front 7

Murder - First Degree

Back 7

First-Degree murder is any murder with an intent to kill, premeditation, and deliberation.

Front 8

Murder - Second Degree

Back 8

Second-Degree murder is any murder that does not meet the requisite elements of first-degree murder.

Front 9

Voluntary Manslaughter / Heat-of-passion killing Generally

Back 9

An intentional killing mitigated by adequate provocation or other circumstances negating malice aforethought.

Front 10

Voluntary Manslaughter - Adequate Provocation

Back 10

• Causal Connection: There must be a causal connection b/w provocation and killing.
• Time: The time period b/w provocation and killing must not have been such that a reasonable person would have cooled off.
• Examples: serious battery/threat of deadly force/spousal affair

Front 11

Voluntary Manslaughter: Mitigating Circumstances

Back 11

• Imperfect self-defense may mitigate murder to v. manslaughter;
• Diminished mental capacity short of insanity may mitigate murder to v. manslaughter

Front 12

Involuntary Manslaughter - Generally

Back 12

An unintentional killing resulting w/o malice, caused by either recklessness, criminal negligence, or during the commission or attempt of an unlawful act, that is not an inherently dangerous felony.

Front 13

Criminal Battery

Back 13

Intentional, reckless, or criminally negligent unlawful application of force to the person of the victim.

Front 14

Criminal Battery - Intent

Back 14

Intent for purposes of criminal battery may be established where the ∆ acts:

• recklessly;
• negligently; or
• with knowledge that his act would result in criminal liability.

Front 15

Criminal Assault

Back 15

A defendant may commit criminal assault by:

• attempting to commit battery;
• intentionally causing the victim to fear an immediate battery

Front 16

Mayhem

Back 16

Mayhem at common law required an intent to maim or do bodily injury combined with an act that either:

• dismembered the victim;
• disabled the use of some body part used in fighting

Front 17

False Imprisonment

Back 17

False imprisonment is the intentional, unlawful confinement of one person by another.

• confinement must be complete, i.e. - no escape
• victims are not required to escape, nor look for ways to escape

Front 18

Kidnapping

Back 18

• Common Law: unlawful restraint of a person's liberty by force or show of force so as to send the victim into another country;
• Modern Law: unlawful restraint and concealment or asportation of the victim.

Front 19

Rape

Back 19

Sexual intercourse without consent or without effective consent, accomplished by force or threats of force.

Front 20

Larceny

Back 20

The taking and carrying away of the tangible personal property of another.

Front 21

Larceny - Taking

Back 21

• Taking requires assertion of dominion and control over the property by a ∆ who does not have lawful possession;
• Taking can also be accomplished by trickery, however the crime in this case is larceny by trick.

Front 22

Larceny - Carrying Away

Back 22

Carrying away is complete upon the slightest movement of the property.

Front 23

Larceny - Tangible Personal Property

Back 23

At common law larceny was limited to tangible personal property, however modern statutes have evaded the kinds of property to include theft of services and other intangibles, however, abandoned property cannot be the subject of larceny, although lost or mislaid property can be.

Front 24

Larceny - of another

Back 24

The property of a charge of larceny must be that of another, hence a good-faith claim of right is a valid defense. Also, a party may be guilty of larceny of their own property if it is in the lawful possession of a third-party.

Front 25

Larceny - intent to permanently deprive

Back 25

• A party must intend to permanently deprive another of their property, and this intent may arise at any time, however, if a party intends to return the property to its owner and is able to, they cannot be charged with larceny, even if they are later unable to make the return.
• Reckless exposure, or handling in such a way that destruction is certain establishes sufficient intent.

Front 26

Embezzlement

Back 26

The fraudulent conversion or misappropriation of the property of another by one who is already in lawful possession.

Front 27

Embezzlement - Conversion / Misappropriation

Back 27

An action that seriously interferes with the rights of the owner.

Front 28

Embezzlement - Property of Another

Back 28

Embezzlement must be of tangible personal property, although modern jurisdictions may include real estate, although no jurisdiction will consider services.

Front 29

Embezzlement - One who is already in lawful poss.

Back 29

Embezzlement only applies to those who have lawful possession, as opposed to custody, hence one cannot be guilty of both embezzlement and larceny.

Front 30

Robbery

Back 30

The taking and carrying away of the tangible personal property of another in the victim's presence by force, or threats of force

Front 31

False Pretenses

Back 31

A false representation of a present or past material fact by the defendant that causes the victim to pass title to his property to the defendant, where the defendant knows his representation to be false and intends to defraud the victim.

Front 32

False Pretenses - False Representation

Back 32

The false representation must relate to a material fact, not an opinion, i.e. - puffin is permitted.

Front 33

False Pretenses - Causes title to be passed to ∆

Back 33

There must be at least partial reliance on the false representation.

Front 34

False Pretenses - Knowingly false representation

Back 34

The ∆ must know that the representation is false at the time the victim transfers title to him.

Front 35

Larceny by Trick

Back 35

Crime whereby the ∆ obtains possession of the personal property of another by means of a representation that he knows is false at the time he takes possession.

Front 36

Extortion

Back 36

• A common law misdemeanor involving the corrupt demand or receipt of an unlawful fee by a public official under color of his office.
• At modern law it is blackmail which is the obtaining of property of another by the use of threats of future harm to the victim or his property.

Front 37

Receiving Stolen Property

Back 37

The receiving of stolen property, that is known to be stolen, with the intent to permanently deprive the owner.

Front 38

Burglary

Back 38

The breaking and entering of any structure of another with the intent to commit a felony therein.

Front 39

Arson

Back 39

Common Law: The malicious burning of the dwelling of another.

• intent - action involving substantial risk of burning;
• burning - more than mere blackening;
• dwelling - modern law is any structure;
• of another - includes his own structure.

Front 40

Solicitation

Back 40

Enticing, advising, inciting, inducing, urging, or otherwise encouraging another to commit a felony or breach of the peace.

• Intent must be to have other commit crimes, approval is insufficient;
• Solicitor is an accessory before the fact, and is guilty of any solicited crime accomplished

Front 41

Attempt

Back 41

Attempt requires:

1. a specific intent to bring about a criminal result; and
2. a significant overt act in furtherance of intent.

Front 42

Attempt - Significant Overt Act

Back 42

The act must be more than just "mere preparation":

• At common law, ∆ must have completed the last act necessary to achieve the intended result;
• At modern law, either the proximity test-how close in time and distance the ∆ was to committing the crime, or the equivocality test-requires that ∆'s conduct can have no other purpose than commission of crime attempted.

Front 43

Attempt - Defenses

Back 43

Abandonment: Not a defense at common law, but under the modern law, is a defense if abandonment is voluntary and complete.

Legal Impossibility: ∆ did all things he intended to do, but his acts constituted no crime.

Front 44

Conspiracy

Back 44

An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime, which is evidenced by an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy, of which mere preparation is sufficient.

• At common law a true agreement was required, however under the MPC, only one party must think an agreement exists.

Front 45

Accomplice

Back 45

• An accomplice is fully liable for a crime committed where he acts to assist the crime of another and intends to effectuate the commission of the crime.
• An accomplice may withdraw or abandon the crime.

Front 46

Accessory after the Fact

Back 46

An accessory after the fact is punishable for his own actions, but not those of the underlying crime, and is found guilty of being an accessory if:

• a felony has been committed;
• the accessory knew of the crime being committed;
• and the accessory gave aid to hinder the felon's apprehension; conviction; or punishment.

Front 47

Insanity - M'naughten v. MPC

Back 47

• M'naughten: requires proof that ∆ had defect from disease of the mind and did not know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, and if he did know, did not know it was wrong;
• MPC: requires proof that ∆ had defect from disease of the mind and lacked substantial capacity to appreciate wrongfulness of actions or to conform actions to lawfulness