Criminal Law Outline

Criminal Law Outline – Evan Lee, Fall 2012
 
 
1 – Actus Reus
I. Goal of Criminal Law – punish only “blameworthy people”
            A. This requires an actus reus as well as mens rea component to an offense (most   offenses like this)
II. Actus Reus requires a voluntary act or omission of a voluntary act
            A. Cannot punish for evil thoughts alone. Why? Because we value freedom of thoughts
III. What does “voluntary” mean?
            A. Oliver Wendell Holmes – A “willed muscle contraction”
            B. MPC – no def for voluntary but says what voluntary is not
                        i. reflex or convulsion
                        ii. movement during unconsciousness or sleep
                        iii. conduct during hypnosis or post-hypnotic suggestion
                        iv. residual clause (“conscious” or “habitual” acts ARE voluntary)
            C. Narrow v. Broad meaning in crim law – sometimes “voluntary” and “involuntary” are   used in other ways. For       example, they are used when someone performs conduct under       duress. In the narrow sense, this is still                         voluntary.
IV. Was People v. Decina the right result? (Where D knew he was prone to epileptic attacks but still drove his car, killing four girls. D was guilty.) DISCUSSION
 
2 – Omission liability
I. Failure of duty to act – A person can only be punished for failure only if he or she had a legal duty to act: Duty can be established by following:
            A. Statute imposes duty
                        i.e. registering for the draft, income tax laws
            B. Status relationship imposes duty
                        i.e. Parent-child duty
            C. Contract creates duty
            D. Duty was voluntarily assumed, then abandoned, thereby leaving victim worse off
            E. Status as landowner imposes duty
            F. Tort duty to control certain third persons (i.e. children)
                        i.e. Collumbine inicident
            G. D created peril in the first place
                        i.e. if you created a dangerous situation in the first place
II. Jones v. United States
            –Conviction for involuntary manslaughter on omission theory must be reversed on failure of jury             instruction to find that D had a legal duty to act
            –Jones has relationship with green, voluntarily assumes care of child
            –Child is neglected and eventually dies of malnutrition
            HYPO: Assume that Jones contracted with Green but Green did not keep up with             payments and was in breach.                                 Different result?
            HYPO: Assume Green wasn’t living with Jones but could’ve checked in on the children. Different result?
 
III. Other Key cases
            State v. Walden (NC) – D convicted of aiding and abetting the assault of her baby on                                                        theory of omission by not stopping a friend who assaulted baby.
            People v. Henson (NY) – Parents convicted of negligent homicide on failure to get med.                                                         help for child
            Commonwealth v. Twitchell (MASS) – involuntary manslaughter conviction even when it   is based on religious                                                                                   principles (Christian science)
            People v. Heitzman (CA) – D whose father was dying while living with D’s bros could not be convicted of             “willfully causing or permitting elder to suffer” without proof that she had a legal duty to control            
                                                            her brothers
 
IV. No duty to “rescue” generally in the criminal law – Should there be?
            A. Option – Impose a duty to rescue where one can do so without significant risk to oneself
            B. Option – Law could impose duty to inform authorities when one is reasonably certain   that another is in                         serious peril
            C. Discussion – should the law reach people like David Cash who could see his friend seriously harming a young child in a bathroom stall but did not notify authorities?
            –Laws enacted in NV and CA reacted to this but only confined to reporting crimes for sexual assaults of kids
                        –Misprision of felony – old common law and still federal law
 
Part 2 –Possession
I. Special Instance of the Voluntary Act Requirement
            A. To be guilty of contraband (drugs, firearms, stolen property) one must be true:
                        i. The D deliberately obtained the contraband
                        ii. The D knowingly received the contraband
                        iii. The D has failed to terminate control of contraband after a significant amount   of time (omission)
                        –this is possession on an omission theory – you have legal duty to relinquish control (turn it in)
II. Possession (def.) : having control or dominion (no control = no possession)
            A. Two types
                        i. Actual Possession – physical possession – it’s on you
                        ii. Constructive Possession – remote control, it’s not on you but you do not                                                                                    control it’s “destiny”
            B. Problem: When does D have control?     
            #1 – Wheeler v. United States (D.C.)
            –Cops break into house where females are in a room with heroin, D was just in the room, evidence sufficient             because she gave alias to police and there was an inference to be made that she was inhabitant of bed where             heroin was
            HOLDING: D had sufficient control over heroin
            #2 – People v. Ireland (IL)
            Man’s wife brings home a lot of marijuana, he is aware of it but does nothing to further it
            HOLDING: Improper jury instruction on what “control” is – jury might have been misled thinking mere             knowledge without control was sufficient. Also held that control does not             mean exclusive control, control can be joint.
            HYPO – suppose Ireland was aware that there were illegal drugs in the house he shared    with his wife, that the drugs were in an area to which they had access, that he had told his wife he didn’t want them there and hope his wife would remove them. Is he guilty of       possession? These are the tough questions the courts have to address because possession is tough to define.
 
LEE – Logical inference from these two cases is that control means “appreciable” but not necessarily exclusive control
 
Other important cases
–United States v. Borchardt – making case of constructive possession if they exercised or had opp. to control it – D flew 126k from dallas to mexico to purchase marijuana, 3rd plane crashed, he was held to be in possession since he helped load 3rd plane.
–United States v. Zandi – brothers had possession of heroin when they acquired shipping docs
–United States v. Lindsey – D convicted because he exercised dominion and control over a separate u-haul truck even though he wasn’t driving the truck (he had “dominion” over it)
 
III. Awareness of Possession
            A. Crime requires proof that D is aware that he or she possessed prohibited item
                        Commonwealth v. Juliano – convicted reversed because there was insufficient evidence that D’s was                                                 aware there were drugs in a satchel in his car.
 
IV. Control need not be “immediate” one may have possession over things they have special access to
 
TAKEWAY FOR THIS LESSON: Test for whether D had control is fact-specific, there is no bright line test. You need to look at all of the facts of the case, high fact-specific w/ no clear answer
 
3 – Status Crimes
I. “Voluntary Act” requirement c