Criminal Law

White collar crime cartoon; Arthur Andersen LLP; withhold documents; alter documents; destroy documents.

Mistake of law does not relieve a defendant from criminal liability unless it negates the mental element required for conviction.

Application of simple negligence standard in criminal proceedings does not violate Due Process Clause; governmental interests deterring similar future conduct outweigh infringement personal freedom. Criminal negligence; strict liability.

Jury instructions that, by conclusive presumption or misleading directions, shift the burden of proof on an essential element of the crime to the defendant violate the Due Process Clause. Burden of production; burden of persuasion.

Indecent exposure can be established by an inference of the defendant's general intent to be seen by the public.

Cruel and unusual punishment is an evolving doctrine and depends on the prevailing societal views of the relative punishment afforded to a specific crime. Habeas corpus; ineffective assistance of counsel; nolo contendere.

Vagueness doctrine; void for vagueness. Court broad construction of a state criminal statute provides fair notice that statutory language will encompass conduct related to that forbidden by the statute.

In the absence of a statutory definition of the elements of a crime, a court must resort to the common law for guidance; sodomy.

Gay rights; same sex marriage; sodomy laws; dog refuses sex with cat.

Dog is upset because police officer thinks he has culpability but the cat does not.

Constructive possession of controlled substance is established when the defendant is knowingly in a position or has the right to exercise dominion or control over it, and has some appreciable ability to guide its destiny.

Homeowner may not use a mechanical device in defense of his property when he is not present in the home and is therefore incapable of developing a reasonable belief that the intruder entered with the intent to commit a felony. Justification.

Malice afterthought. Due Process Clause requires the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the absence of heat of passion when it is at issue in a homicide prosecution. Habeas corpus; manslaughter; mens rea; murder.

Cooling-off period. Voluntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being, without malice, upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion.

Infancy defense to the capacity to understand the wrongfulness of minor's actions applies to juvenile adjudications and may be rebutted only by clear and convincing evidence. Criminal capacity; minority.

Force necessary to sustain a rape conviction can be inferred from the circumstances if it is reasonable to conclude the attacker was willing to use force. Constructive; implied.

Justifiable homicide; justification; mitigating circumstance; necessity. If lawful occupant of house maintains reasonable apprehension that unlawful intruder will commit murder robbery burglar rape, then occupant justified using necessary force.

Felony murder must be based on an underlying felony that is inherently dangerous to human life. Felony-murder rule.

One who inflicts an injury upon another that results in death cannot avoid liability because the victim could have taken better care of himself or herself. Diminished capacity; intervening cause; manslaughter; murder; superseding cause.

Fourteenth Amendment; pending criminal charges; insufficient basis for applying lesser procedural or substantive safeguards to prior civil commitment than otherwise afforded similarly situated persons. Civil commitment; incompetency; insanity.

Chronic alcoholics are not afforded a constitutional defense against criminal liability. Actus reus; cruel and unusual punisment; intoxication; mens rea; public intoxication; voluntary intoxication.

Defendant who is mentally deficient due to involuntary intoxication is relieved of criminal responsibility if he is left temporarily insane. Mens rea; pathological intoxication.

If a man believed a woman was consenting to the intercourse and would not have attempted it but for that belief, he cannot be found guilty of rape. Specific intent.

Under the last act rule, actions constitute attempt to commit crime if actions are the last act required to accomplish the crime. false pretenses; intent.

Right to commit suicide is not a fundamental liberty interest entitled to protection under Fourth Amendment. Consent; euthanasia; substantive due process.

Consent; rape. Defendant can be guilty of raping someone with whom he has engaged in a consensual sexual relationship.

Single agreement to commit one or many crimes can only be punished as one conspiracy.

Double-jeopardy clause. Person can be separately convicted of both conspiracy to commit a crime and commission of that crime even if that person is the only party to the agreement who participated in the substantive offense.

Legal impossibility is not defense in court-martial proceeding when the defendants committed the necessary criminal acts with the intent to commit crime. Attempt; rape.

Inchoate offense; meeting of the minds. Person cannot be guilty of conspiracy when the only person with whom he has conspired or agreed has feigned agreement.

Assailant does not need to be aware that victim is federal officer in order to be held criminally liable for conspiracy to commit assault on federal officer engaged in performance of his official duties.

Individual may not be charged with violating law when he has done no voluntary act to commit it. Habeas corpus.

Collateral estoppel bars retrial of issue decided previous trial if issues tried at both trials are identical, previous trial resulted judgment on merits and party against whom collateral estoppel assessed was party or was in privity with party at first trial.

Duped principal need not be convicted of substantive offense in order for another defendant to be convicted of aiding and abetting. Averment; criminal intent.

In order to be guilty of aiding and abetting, defendant must have intended to advise or assist another with criminal act. Aid and Abet.

Defendant is guilty of aiding and abetting another if he consciously acted in accordance or association with the principal to accomplish the crime. Conspiracy nexus.

Voluntary participation in one felonious act makes person liable for any other criminal acts that naturally flow from his participation. Felony murder.

Parents cannot be held vicariously criminally liable for their children's criminal offenses. Exception.

battered-woman syndrome. In claim of self-defense, defendant conduct is evaluated according to what she in good faith honestly believed and had reasonable ground believe necessary protect defendant from death or great bodily injury.

Compulsion is not a defense to homicide charge unless charge is felony murder. Felony murder rule.

Law requiring registration of felon contravenes due process when person charged with violating the requirement had no reason to know of registration requirement.

Conviction for conspiracy requires an agreement to commit a criminal act and some overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. Corroboration; double jeopardy clause; immunity; perjury.

It is not a defense to the crime of taking an underage girl that the defendant thought the girl was not underage when the statute does not make knowledge of the girl's age an element of the crime. Assizes.

If victim commits suicide during course of kidnapping, defendant may not avoid responsibility for death by establishing that victim took poison voluntarily and caused her own death. Kidnap.

Sexual assault consists of any act of sexual penetration done without the affirmative and freely given permission of the victim. Juvenile delinquency.

Absent legal duty, the law may not hold one responsible for a death resulting from the reckless or negligent actions of the victim himself or herself. Moral duty.

Felony murder; accidental death during police chase is not felony muder; but murder can be committed without malice if the killing occurs during the commission of an inherently dangerous felony.

Mercy killing is murder; for defense of necessity to apply, there must be an urgent situation of clear and imminent peril, no reasonable legal alternative to disobeying the law, and proportionality between the harm inflicted and the harm avoided.

United States v. Milken, individual deterrence, general deterrence, punishment, retribution, and rehabilitation, appropriate criminal sentence.

Commonwealth v. Mochan, misdemeanors may arise under state common law, acts against the public morality, Lawrence v. Texas, homosexuality.

B (A Minor) v. Director of Public Prosecutions, Absent legislative direction, the common law presumes that an accused's honest belief that negates the requisite mens rea of the crime is a valid defense.

Felonies that create a foreseeable risk of death under the circumstances are inherently dangerous, justifying the felony-murder rule.

A conspiracy requires a unity of unlawful purpose between two or more individuals.

A plaintiff must have a sufficient stake in the outcome of a case to maintain standing.

A guilty plea is not involuntary merely because it was entered into to avoid the possibility of the death penalty.

Downward departure, under federal sentencing guidelines, courts may order a downward departure from the sentencing guidelines based on extraordinary family circumstances.

Muscarello v. United States; The word "carry," in ordinary sense includes carrying in car neither basic purpose nor legislative history 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) supports circumscribing scope word "carry" by applying "on the person" limitation; lenity.

People v. Knoller; Malice, to satisfy the elements of second-degree murder, requires a defendant's awareness of the risk of death to another; objective; subjective.

Malice may be implied when defendant actions were done without regard for the consequences of his or her actions. Mischief; murder; natural life; plaintiff in error.

Person is an accessory after the fact if he renders assistance with the intent to help a criminal avoid detection and arrest.

Deterrence, deterrent punishment; proportionality; recidivism; rehabilitation; retribution. Felony grand theft under three-strikes law is not grossly disproportionate, not violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Irresistable impulse test. Person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at time act was committed mental disease or defect caused lack of capacity to appreciate wrongfulness of conduct or conform his conduct to law. Substantial capacity.

Corporation may be held criminally liable for vehicular homicide when the definition of person in the homicide statute extends beyond that of natural person. Ultra vires.

Taking goods without paying for them is treated as a felony even though the store clerk voluntarily handed the merchandise to the customer for inspection as part of an anticipated transaction. Felleo amimo incohate.

Rape shield; evidence of victim's sexual conduct with a third party is irrelevant to the issue of whether she consented to sexual intercourse with the defendant; public, provocative displays may or may not be admissible in rape trials.

Felony-murder rule; simpliciter. Reckless indifference to innocent life, shown by participating in the events leading up to and following a murder, makes the death sentence constitutionally permissible.

United States v. Veach; Intoxication, whether voluntary or involuntary, may preclude the formation of specific intent and thus serve to negate the mens rea element of specific-intent crimes; field sobriety test.

State v. Formella; An individual is criminally liable for the conduct of another when he acts as an accomplice by promoting or facilitating, or by aiding, or agreeing or attempting to aid, another person in planning or committing the offense.

United States v. Rybicki; To establish honest services fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1346, the evidence must show (1) a scheme or artifice to defraud; (2) for depriving another ofhonest services...; bribery; conflict of interest; kickback; self-dealing behavior.

United States v. Aguilar; utterance of false statement to investigating agent—who may or may not testify before a grand jury—does not constitute an endeavor to interfere with the due administration of justice; corruptly; obstruction of justice.

Smith v. State; Several factors, no one of which is conclusive, determine if defendant was "in possession" of drugs: proximity, in plain view, indicia of mutual use and enjoyment, and ownership or possessory interest in location where discovered.

People v. Superior Court; doctrine of "nonmutual collateral estoppe" should not be applied in criminal cases.

Jones v. United States; must establish a duty before breach of duty can support a criminal conviction.

People v. Stone; an attempt to kill anyone is an attempted murder.

United States v. Moore; signing for an express mail delivery with a fictitious name violates federal law.

People v. Moore; defendant's driving created a sufficiently high probability of death for a second-degree murder conviction; the defendant was subjectively aware of the risk from prior DWI (driving while intoxicated).

Valazquez v. State; but-for test and substantial factor test to determine liability as cause in fact; must also be the proximate cause or no liability.

Skilling v. United States; bribery and kickbacks are honest services fraud, but conflict of interest is not.

United States v. Bernard Madoff; While the court must give the sentencing guideline range fair and respectful consideration, it is not bound by it and must make an individualized sentencing assessment.