CRIMINAL LAW Defenses Outline Page 1 of 6 Insanity • Defense negating criminal capacity • Elements: meet applicable insanity test (M’Naghten, irresistible impulse, Durham, or MPC) • Applicable Crimes: defense to all crimes • M’Naghten Rule: o Elements: the traditional M Rule provides that a defendant is entitled to acquittal if the proof establishes that: A disease of the mind Caused a defect of reason Such that the defendant lacked the ability at the time of his actions to either: o Know the wrongfulness of his actions; or o Understand the nature and quality of his actions • Irresistible Impulse Test: • Durham Test • MPC Test o Appreciate the criminality (wrongfulness) of his conduct; or o Conform his conduct to the requirements of law Intoxication: Voluntary • Defense negating criminal capacity • Elements: voluntary intentional taking of a substance known to be intoxication • Applicable crimes: defense to specific intent crime if intoxication prevents formation of required intent CRIMINAL LAW Defenses Outline Page 2 of 6 Intoxication: Involuntary • Defense negating criminal capacity • Elements: taking intoxicating substance without knowledge of its nature, under duress, or pursuant to medical advice • Applicable crimes: treat as mental illness (i.e. apply appropriate insanity test); may be a defense to all crimes Infancy Diminished Capacity Self Defense: (Justification or excuse) • Adequate provocation of imminent threat • Necessary • Proportionate response • *Note: a strict application of the immanency requirement may result in unfairness in battered women cases. • Basic Rules o Crime of necessity o Arises only when the necessity begins and ends when the necessity ends o Proportionality • Actual things needed for self-defense: First Ask, “ Are we dealing w/deadly or non-deadly force? o Threat that’s actual or apparent of deadly force o Unlawful & Immediate o Imminent or Serious Bodily injury & necessary to save oneself o Honest Belief and objectively reasonable o Not available to the aggressor o Mere words are not a provocation o Withdrawal then start over = no longer the aggressor CRIMINAL LAW Defenses Outline Page 3 of 6 • Retreat o Common Law: duty to retreat if there is a safe available opportunity o MPC: no duty to retreat Exceptions: • When no safety – would be perilous to his safety • Castle Doctrine – can only be invoked by one who has not started the conflict. Policy for the no duty to retreat: • Law should not denounce conduct as criminal when it accords with the reasonable behavior of men • Right should never give way to wrong • Requiring retreat would reward the aggressor, and innocent people being required to retreat may be killed in the process of retreat. MPC 3.04: force justified when the actor reasonably believes that it was necessary – subjective • Exceptions: o Resist arrest\ o Resist force by occupier of property Self-Defense and Defense of Others • Justification defense • Use of Force o Nondeadly force: if reasonably necessary to protect self o Deadly force: only if threatened with death or great bodily harm Defense of Dwelling • Justification defense • Use of Force o Nondeadly force: if reasonably necessary to prevent or end unlawful entry CRIMINAL LAW Defenses Outline Page 4 of 6 o Deadly force: only if person inside is threatened or to prevent felony inside Defense of Other Property • Justification defense • Use of Force o Nondeadly force: if reasonably necessary to defend property in one’s possession (but if request to desist would suffice, force not allowed) o Deadly force: never Duress and Necessity Mistake of Fact • Exculpatory defense • Applicable to: crimes with a mental state element • When applicable: for specific intent crimes, any mistake that negates intent; for other crimes, only reasonable mistakes • Strict liability crimes: since strict liability crimes require no state of mind, mistake or ignorance of facts is no defense to them. Mistake of Law • Exculpatory defense • General Rule: no defense • Applicable to: crimes with a mental state element and statutory crimes • When applicable: mistake must negate awareness of some aspect of law that crime requires or must be due to: statute not being reasonably CRIMINAL LAW Defenses Outline Page 5 of 6 available, reasonable reliance on statute, or judicial interpretation, or (in some states) reasonable reliance on official advice Consent • Exculpatory defense • Applicable to: crimes requiring lack of consent (e.g. rape) and minor assaults and batteries • When applicable: applicable only if: consent is freely given, party is capable of consenting, and no fraud was used to obtain consent Entrapment • Exculpatory defense • Applicable to: most crimes, but not available if defendant or police merely provide material for the crime • When applicable: criminal design originated with police and defendant was not predisposed to commit the crime before contact with police Justification • Includes: self-defense, defense of others, defense of property, necessity, etc. • Exculpatory defense • Applicable to: usually crime of force (e.g. battery, homicide) • When applicable: nondeadly force may usually be used if reasonably necessary to avoid imminent injury or to retain property; deadly force may be used only to prevent serious bodily harm. CRIMINAL LAW Defenses Outline Page 6 of 6 Duress • Exculpatory defense • Applicable to: all crime except homicide • When applicable: defendant reasonably believed that another would imminently harm him or a family member if he did not commit the crime