Criminal Law: Homicide Flashcards

Under the common law, 'malice aforethought' can be established by which of the following states of mind?

Answer: Intent to kill or cause serious bodily harm, depraved heart, or felony murder

Common law malice aforethought encompasses four types: intent to kill, intent to inflict serious bodily harm, extreme recklessness (depraved heart), and felony murder.

Dale sets a trap intending to seriously injure his neighbor. The neighbor dies from the injuries. Dale is most likely guilty of:

Answer: Murder, because intent to cause serious bodily harm is malice aforethought

Intent to inflict grievous bodily harm is one form of malice aforethought, so causing death with such intent constitutes murder even without an intent to kill.

For the 'cooling off' doctrine in voluntary manslaughter, courts examine:

Answer: Both whether the defendant actually cooled off and whether a reasonable person would have

The cooling off doctrine uses both a subjective element (did defendant actually cool off?) and an objective element (would a reasonable person have cooled off?), and if either is met, the heat of passion defense fails.

Under the Model Penal Code, 'extreme mental or emotional disturbance' (EMED) differs from common law heat of passion in that:

Answer: EMED allows a broader range of triggering circumstances and applies a subjective standard

The MPC's EMED defense is broader than common law heat of passion—it does not require the provocation to come from the victim and uses a more subjective standard for reasonableness.

A co-felon is shot and killed by police while the other felon flees. Under the proximate cause theory of felony murder, the surviving felon:

Answer: Is liable because the death was a foreseeable result of the dangerous felony

Under the proximate cause theory, a felon is liable for any death that is a foreseeable result of the dangerous felony, including deaths caused by police or resisting victims.

Which scenario best illustrates 'voluntary manslaughter' rather than 'involuntary manslaughter'?

Answer: A father catches a man molesting his child and beats him to death in a rage

Voluntary manslaughter involves an intentional killing committed in the heat of passion upon adequate provocation; the father's rage at witnessing child molestation fits this pattern.

Which of the following is the best definition of 'deliberation' as required for first-degree murder under common law?

Answer: The defendant must have reflected coolly and calmly on the decision to kill

Deliberation requires that the defendant coolly weighed the decision to kill, indicating a more calculated and cold-blooded mental state than mere premeditation.