1. Murder definition: Killing a human being with maliceaforethought

2. Malice aforethought - four ways to show: 1. Intent to kill2. Intent to inflict great bodily harm (or serious bodily injury)3. Act of a depraved heart - reckless indifference to a known highrisk of death4. Felony murder rule

3. When can you infer "intent to kill" from a defendant'sconduct?: When he uses a deadly weapon in a deadly manner -firing a gun at the head or midsection.

4. Felony murder definition: A homicide committed during theperpetration of an inherently dangerous felony.

5. Define "during preparation" (context: felony murderrule): from the moment "attempt" starts to the time thedefendant reaches a place of temporary safety.

6. What are the inherently dangerous felonies?: At commonlaw: BARRKBurglary, Assault, Robbery, Rape, Kidnapping

7. What is "a felony that is independent from the act thatcaused death" and why does that matter?: In the felonymurder rule context, the felony that gives rise to the "felonymurder" method of showing intent must be independent from thefelony that caused death, otherwise it CANNOT BE USED as abasis for the felony murder rule.

Example: If you shove someone through a window and they endup dying, you can't get "felony murder" by claiming that themurder occurred during a battery.

If you shoot someone during a bank robbery - THAT'S anindependent felony.

8. If a non-felon kills a co-felon, is everyone liable for thefelony murder rule?

What about if a non-felon kills a bystander?: The felonymurder rule cannot be used as a basis for liability for a non-felonkilling a co-felon during an independent felony.

In a minority of jurisdictions, you can't use felony murder to holda co-felon liable for the killing of a bystander by a non-felon.

9. What is "involuntary manslaughter?": A homicidecommitted without malice under one of the following mentalstates:

1. intent to inflect bodily injury, however slight. i.e. you trip aperson, and they fall over and die.2. criminal negligence: killing a victim in a way that is not asbad as depraved heart, but somehow worse than "ordinarynegligence."3. misdemeanor manslaughter - defendant kills victim whilecommitting some non-dangerous felony... or a "malum in se"crime of some sort.

10. Homicide justifications (list the five, and the one thatdoesn't work): 1. self-defense2. defense of others3. crime prevention4. apprehending a felon5. reasonable mistake

6. defense of property is not a defense, unless the intruder is inyour home intending to commit a deadly felony.

11. Self-defense definition: Defendant may use deadly force toprotect against an imminent deadly attack, but the use of forcemust be reasonable and necessary.

12. Self-defense: duty to retreat: You do not have a duty to retreatunless you started the fight - then you must retreat if it's safe to doso.

In a minority of jurisdictions, you always have to retreat if it issafe to do so... unless you are the victim of a violent felony, athome, or you are the police.

13. Self-defense: duty when Defendant is initial aggressor:In order to claim self-defense:1. defendant must attempt withdraw from the conflict2. the "other guy" must escalate the use of force - bring out gunsin a fistfight3. defendant must retreat if safe to do so.

14. Defense of others - definition: Defendant can use deadlyforce to defend another person as long as its reasonable andnecessary.

If the victim is NOT entitled to self-defense, it's still okay in amajority of jurisdictions as long as your use of deadly force wasbased on a reasonable mistake.

In a minority of jx, you stand in the shoes of the defendant. If hecan't defend himself, you can't either.

15. Crime prevention - definition: A policeman or a privateperson can use deadly force if necessary to prevent thecommission of an inherently dangerous felony.

16. Apprehension of suspect: A policeman can use deadly forceto apprehend a dangerous felon if it is reasonably necessary to doso. A private person does NOT GET THE BENEFIT of a"reasonable mistake" on this one. We don't want people out theregoing "vigilante" with it.

17. Homicide excuses - effect of: If a homicide (or any crime) isexcused, the defendant is not criminally liable at all.

18. Insanity: M'Naghten test: Also called the "right/wrong" test,it's when the Defendant, because of a mental disease or defect,does not know the wrongfulness or his conduct or could notunderstand the nature and quality of his act.

In other words, "I didn't know killing was wrong" or "what? Ikilled? I thought I was jumping rope."

Focus on cognitive impairment, not on volitional activity.

California Bar Prep: Criminal LawStudy online at quizlet.com/_b6y9e

19. Insanity: irresistible impulse test: When Defendant isunable to control or conform his conduct to the law. Focus onvolitional of the act, not cognitive impairment.

20. Insanity: ALI/MPC test: Defendant lacks the substantialcapacity iether to conform his conduct to the law or to appreciatethe wrongfulness of his act.

21. Insanity: Durham test: Not guilty if the crime is "product" of amental disease or defect. This test is not used, but we still have tomention it.

22. Intoxication: when does it excuse liability: Involuntaryintoxication: any type of crime so long as you're so drunk youdon't know what you're doing.

Voluntary intoxication: this CAN work as a defense to a specificintent crime, but not to a general intent or strict liability crime.

All intoxication may preclude "deliberation" in first-degreemurder context.

23. Mitigation by provocation: When defendant is actuallyprovoked by something that would cause a reasonable person tolose self-control without time to cool off, that person can"mitigate" his killing from murder down to voluntarymanslaughter.

24. Mitigation by good faith mistake: When a defendantintentionally kills under a good-faith, but unreasonable,mistaken belief as to self-defense, defense of others, or crimeprevention, that mitigates a killing from murder down tovoluntary manslaughter.

25. First-degree murder: definition: When a person's "intent tokill" is both premeditated and deliberate, that is a "first-degree"murder.

Deliberate means that the defendant acted in a cool, collectedframe of mind.

premeditated is any amount of time spent thinking about killingthe victim.

Felony murders are also first degree murders.

26. Assault: An assault is either1. an attempted battery2. the intentional creation of a reasonable apprehension ofbodily contact.

27. Battery: A harmful contact with the person of the victim.

28. Kidnapping: confinement of the victim involving movement ofthe victim or concealment of the victim.

29. Larceny: Trespassory taking and carrying away of the personalproperty of another with the intent to permanently deprive.

30. Larceny: define each element: trespassory - takingWITHOUT prior consent - if someone gives you consent later,after you take it, that doesn't matter.take and carry - the slightest movement is enough.personal property of another - possession interest is what'sprotected, not ownership interestintent to deprive - this intent must exist at the time of taking, andyou must intend to keep it forever, not just for a little while.

31. Larceny by trick: Same as larceny, but instead of "trespassory,"you take something by tricking the victim into consenting to yourhaving it.

32. Embezzlement: Fraudulent conversion of the property ofanother by one in rightful possession - so you deal with thevictim's property in a way inconsistent with his original grant ofpossession to you.

Victim gives you rightful possession, then you take it.

33. False pretenses: Acquisition of title to property of victim by afalse representation with an intent to defraud.

This usually comes up in the context of "intent to sell," as in,someone is falsely induced into selling something. Protects theownership interest rather than the possessory interest. (contrastwith Larceny, which protects the possessory interest.)

34. Robbery: A larceny from the victim's person or immediatepresence by either force or the threat of immediate bodily harm.

Later harm or harm that is not to the body (but, say, to theproperty) is extortion, not robbery.

Victim's person or presence can be their wallet or something inthe same room.

35. Arson: Burning of a protected structure of another with malice.

notes: "burning" means "charring the structural portion of thebuilding."

36. Burglary: Trespassory breaking and entering of the protectedstructure of another at night without consent.

Any physical movement of a door or window is "breaking," intentmust exist at the time of entry.

37. "Attempt" crimes: definition: Defendant is guilty of"attempted __________" if he commits an act of perpetrationwith the intent to commit the target crime. An "act ofperpetration" is a substantial step towards the commission of acrime, or to come "dangerously close" to completion of the crime.

Defendant must have SPECIFIC intent to commit the targetcrime. (So, if you speed through a school zone at 120, and youstrike a kid, and he doesn't die, you are not guilty of attemptedmurder, although you would be guilty of depraved heart murder ifhe died.)

38. Attempt defenses: merger: When the target crime iscompleted, the "attempt" merges into the "target crime" and thedefendant can't be punished twice.

39. Attempt defenses: impossibility: Legal and factualimpossibility only apply to attempt and conspiracy.

Legal impossibility is when defendant's intended acts would notbe a crime - that's a good defense to anything.

Factual impossibility is when the facts, if they were as Defendantthought they were, would be a crime - that IS a crime.

40. Conspiracy: definition: Defendant enters into an agreementwith another party for an unlawful objective and some overt act isperformed in furtherance of that unlawful objective.

41. Conspiracy: agreement elements: Agreement betweendefendants can be by words or by conduct - the majority rule isthat all co-conspirators must actually agree in order for them tobe charged with conspiracy. In a minority of jx, "one guilty mind"is enough... in other words, if the other guy is actually anundercover officer, it's STILL a conspiracy.

42. Vicarious liability in conspiracy: All conspirators are liablefor any crime that is reasonably foreseeable and reasonably infurtherance of the conspiracy.

43. Defenses to conspiracy: withdrawal: Withdrawal is when adefendant timely communicates to all other conspirators thatdefendant is no longer a participant.

"Timely" means before the target crime.

The effect of withdrawal is to excuse the defendant from liabilityfor the TARGET crime, but not for "conspiracy."

Under the MPC, if you go to the police in enough time to stop theconspiracy from committing the target crime, you are excusedfrom all liability.

44. Defenses to conspiracy: merger: Merger is NOT a defense toconspiracy!

Tricked you, huh?

45. Accomplice liability: Accomplices are anybody who assists,encourages, aids, or counsels the principal in the perpetration ofa crime. All accomplices are liable for all foreseeable crimes thatthe accomplice assisted in.

46. Accessory after the fact liability: Accessories after the factare people who help a felon escape or avoid arrest or trial --POST-felony. They are not liable for the target crime, but they areusually guilty of a separate crime (obstruction of justice) whichcarries a five-year maximum sentence.

47. Defenses to all crimes: Duress: If any crime is committedunder the threat of imminent death, the defendant is excused,unless that crime is a homicide. Killing someone else instead ofyourself is not "the lesser of two evils."

48. Defenses to all crimes: entrapment: Defendant is excused ifhe can show that the plan to commit the crime originated withthe government and the defendant was not predisposed tocommitting the crime.

49. Mistakes of fact: If defendant makes a reasonable mistake offact or is ignorant of a fact, and that ignorance or mistakenegates the required mental state for a crime, the defendant isNOT guilty of that crime.

An unreasonable mistake will only negate a crime that requires aspecific intent.

50. Mistake of law: Not a defense!

51. General criminal intent: Battery/rape/assault crimes.

Key defense: reasonable mistake of fact.

52. Specific criminal intent: Assault when based on an attemptedbattery, theft, burglary, ALL preliminary crimes, and first-degreemurder with intent to kill

Key defenses: reasonable or unreasonable mistake of fact, orvoluntary intoxication

53. Strict liability: No mental state required.