Final Criminal Law Outline Osler Spring 2013
Crime in General
1. MN 609.02 Subd. 1: Crime is conduct prohibited by statute. Not what is right and wrong. Have to push to a place with conduct that is crime. What is it that you make it illegal?
2. NO COMMON LAW CRIMES. In 1963, Common Law crimes were abolished in MN (MN 609.015)
3. If it is not barred by statue, it is not a crime.
a. Matters only with interpretation.
4. Crime defined: conduct prohibited by statute (menu for prosecutors)
a. Felony: a crime with a possible sentence over one year
i. MN 609.02 Subd. 2
ii. Typically go to Prison
iii. Cutoff for collateral consequences
1. Felons cannot vote
2. Sometimes cannot possess firearms
iv. Most dangerous crimes are felonies
b. Misdemeanors
i. Maximum is one year or less
ii. Sentence of a year or less and also detention waiting for sentence.
iii. In MN we have
1. Gross misdemeanors: 90 days or more (up to a year)/$3,000
2. Regular misdemeanors: not more than 90 days/not more than $1,000, or both
3. Petty misdemeanors: not crimes, but prohibited by statute; fine not more than $300. No jail time, in Minnesota not a crime.
c. MN 609.055: Children under 14 years of age are incapable of committing crime
d. So what is a crime (in MN)?
i. A probable actor omission which
1. Violates an express criminal statue of MN
2. Has some threat of jail or prison (not a petty misdemeanor)
3. Is committed by someone over age of 13.
4. A CHARGE IS NOT A CRIME (must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt).
5. Elements of a crime
a. Defense attorney: much show a reasonable doubt about only one elements of a crime. Try to figure out what I can challenge.
b. Myth 1: Actus Reus (action for which someone is culpable) + Mens Rea (star of mind necessary for crime) = crime
c. Real elements of a crime
i. What a prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt to support conviction
1. Identity: Always there, can we show this person did it? Implied in statute.
2. Action (actus reus): Conspiracy and narcotics does not require action.
3. State of mind (mens rea): What was person thinking/knowing. Knowing (know wrongful conduct, intended an outcome specific outcome). Intentional (intended a specific outcome).
4. Prior convictions
5. Scientific
a. Not the same as scientific evidence of another element
6. Jurisdictional
ii. ALL HAVE TO BE PROVEN BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT.
a. Examples:
i. Heroin Trafficking:
1. Identity
2. Action: Distribution
3. State of mind: knowingly, intentionally
4. Scientific: Fits definition of heroin, chemical formulation
ii. Federal bank robbery:
1. Identity (hard!)
2. Action: using force/intimidation
3. Action: Take money belonging to bank
4. Action: From person or presence of another
5. Jurisdiction: Bank is federally insured.
6. Actus Reus
a. Physical part of the crime
i. Usually as a required affirmative act (rarely an omission, see below)
ii. Similar actions that are legal and not legal
b. Action AND result
i. i.e., pulling trigger leading to death
c. Needs to be voluntary and intentional
i. Intent: wanting bad result
ii. Voluntary: controlling body movements
1. i.e.; aiming a gun
2. Intent is wanting the bad outcome
3. Voluntary is about controlling your body
4. Example: Aiming a gun
5. Voluntary goes to actus reus (action)
6. Intentional goes to mens rea (state of mind).
iii. Martin v. State (Ala. 1944)
1. He didn’t voluntarily go on the highway
2. Cops brought him on the highway
3. Shows the difference between voluntarily and intentional. Can be intentional, but not voluntarily. FREE WILL
d. The importance of context must be considered for omissions; factors (duty exists only if its in the statute)
i. Context
ii. Knowledge
iii. Ability to act
iv. Intent
v. Duty
1. Moral duty is not the same as a legal duty
2. People v. Beardsley (morphine, common law era)
a. Manslaughter if: Defendant owed a duty of care (legal, not moral duty), failure to act consistent with that duty, resulting in that duty.
3. Jones v. DC: four situations in which failure to act can bring criminal liability
a. Statute imposes duty
b. Based on “status relationship”
c. Contractual duty
d. Assumed care for person, and isolated them
e. Note: this does not survive in the modern era unless adopted by statute in that jurisdiction
e. Misprision of a felony (18 USC § 4):
i. “Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony…conceals and does not as soo
ee assault: doesn’t require an outcome
1. Assault with a dangerous weapon
2. What is the mens rea? Bodily harm
3. Definition of intent will come from common law
a. So how do we research this?
i. Find the statute
ii. Define the terms via precedent
vii. MN 609.223: 3rd Assault
1. Assault that inflict substantial bodily harm
2. Intent to cause harm
d. Knowledge
i. Think: Did the defendant believe that a specific fact existed?
ii. MN 609.02 Sub. 9 (2) “‘Know’ requires only that the actor believes that the specific fact exists”
iii. 609.02 9(5)“Criminal intent does not include knowledge of the existence or constitutionality of the statute under which the actor is prosecuted…”
1. Knowing that your action is a crime is not a requirement to prosecute you
iv. 609.02 9(6) “Criminal intent does not require proof of knowledge of the age of a minor even though age is a material element in the crime in question.”
1. See statutory rape – strict liability
v. State v. Nations: Stripper, knowledge, strict liability.
vi. Chop shop example
1. Includes knowledge of owning, operating, maintaining, controlling… can be imprisoned for not more than 15 years
e. Recklessness
i. Conscious creation of an unjustifiable risk
ii. Relatively rare, relatively rare that criminal law is evaluating the risk, inherent dangerousness, i.e. drunk driving, shooting a gun.
iii. MUST BE EXPRESS WITHIN THE STATUTE. Cannot infer it.
iv. Matters because that state of mind can sometimes substitute for intent, if in the statute
1. Ex: 3rd Degree Murder
a. “Whoever, without the intent to effect the death of any person, causes the death of another by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is guilty of murder of the 3rd degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years.”
