MBE Homicide Flashcards Preview

Criminal Law > MBE Homicide > Flashcards

Flashcards in MBE Homicide Deck (19)
Loading flashcards...
1
Q

What separates voluntary manslaughter from murder is:

A

Adequate provocation

2
Q

A killing committed during the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to a felony is

A

involuntary manslaughter

3
Q

The _______ theory of felony murder requires that the _______ actually commit the killing for criminal liability for felony murder to attach.

A

Agency; felon or one of his agents

4
Q

Which of the following is true regarding the provocation required to reduce murder to manslaughter?

A

OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE: The provocation must be such as to raise a sudden and intense passion in the mind of an ordinary person, and the defendant must have in fact been provoked.

5
Q

To reduce a charge of murder to voluntary manslaughter, the provocation has both _______ element(s), in that the provocation must _______.

A

Has both objective and subjective; have been such as to provoke an ordinary person and have actually provoked the defendant

6
Q

is the following typically is considered to be first degree murder: killing committed with a reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life?

A

would be, at most, second degree murder under most statutory schemes.

7
Q

There are also ____ and _____ elements as to the “cooling off” issue.

A

objective and aubjective: if sufficient time has elapsed between the provocation and the killing such that a reasonable person would have cooled off, or if the defendant in fact cooled off, a reduction to voluntary manslaughter is unavailable

8
Q

Willow tree falling on ambulance when your victim is going to the hospital, which tree kills the victim, let you off the hook for the murder?

A

An intervening act that presents a foreseeable risk will generally not break the chain of causation. However, an unforeseeable risk, such as an act of nature, will most likely break the chain of causation.

9
Q

Under a modern statutory approach, all murders are second degree murder unless __ and ___ can be shown, in which case the murder becomes that in the first degree.

A

deliberation and premeditation

10
Q

If the stagehand takes what he thinks is a prop gun and threatens an actor in jest, when the gun goes off killing the actor, may the stagehand be charged with voluntary or involuntary manslaughter? Or even murder?

A

None of these crimes are committed because there is no malice aforethought. Involuntary manslaughter would require criminal negligence.

11
Q

If you slip someone a Mickey to try to steal papers from their office, and that person dies due to your miscalculation of the dose, is that involuntary manslaughter? Voluntary manslaughter? Or murder in the second degree?

A

It is murder in the second degree because you are in the process of committing a dangerous felony, robbery.

12
Q

What 4 types of mental state can justify a finding of malice aforethought

A
  1. Intent to kill
  2. Intent to inflict great bodily injury
  3. Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life
  4. Intent to commit a felony
13
Q

Voluntary manslaughter is a killing that would be murder but for?

A

Adequate provocation that would and did in fact arouse a sudden and intense passion in the mind of an ordinary person and in the mind of the defendant, and there was not sufficient time to cool off, and the defendant did not in fact lost.

14
Q

Involuntary manslaughter as defined by What: 1 under common law? 2 under model Penal Code??

A

At common law, criminal negligence yields a finding of involuntary manslaughter
under the model Penal Code recklessness.

15
Q

Under the proximate cause theory of felony murder, felons are liable for?

A

The deaths of innocent victims caused by someone other than a co-felon.

16
Q

To be guilty of felony murder, is it the case that the defendant must have committed or attempted to commit the underlying felony?

A

Yes, any defense that negates an element of the underlying felony will be a defense to felony murder.

17
Q

To be guilty of felony murder, must the death has been a foreseeable result of the felony?

A

Yes. This includes deaths caused before the defendant reaches temporary safety, during escape.

18
Q

Is a murder that hastens an inevitable death still murder?What about simultaneous acts causing death?

A

Yes. Simultaneous acts and acts that hasten death are both murder. A victims pre-existing weakness or fragility, even if unforeseeable, does not break the chain of causation

19
Q

Is a victims refusal medical care due to religious reasons an unforeseeable risk that would relieve the defendant of liability for murder?

A

No, religious rejection of medical treatment is foreseeable, and the defendant is guilty if death ensues.