Criminal Law & Procedure Flashcards

Under the Model Penal Code, a defendant who consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk acts with which mental state?

Answer: Recklessly

MPC §2.02 defines recklessness as conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk.

A robber's accomplice is charged with murder after a store clerk dies of a heart attack during the robbery, though no one intended harm. Which doctrine supports the charge?

Answer: Felony murder rule

The felony murder rule imposes murder liability for deaths caused during commission of an inherently dangerous felony.

Under 18 U.S.C. § 371, what must be proven in addition to an agreement to commit a federal offense?

Answer: An overt act by at least one conspirator in furtherance

The general federal conspiracy statute requires an overt act by any one conspirator to further the agreement.

A bookkeeper lawfully entrusted with company funds later transfers them to a personal account. This is best classified as:

Answer: Embezzlement

Embezzlement is the fraudulent conversion of property by one who was in lawful possession of it.

Which element distinguishes robbery from larceny?

Answer: Taking from the person or presence by force or fear

Robbery is larceny plus the use of force or intimidation against a person.

A person who, knowing a felony was committed, hides the felon from police but did not participate in the crime is generally liable as:

Answer: An accessory after the fact

Assisting a felon to avoid arrest after the crime makes one an accessory after the fact.

Under the Pinkerton doctrine, a conspirator may be held liable for a co-conspirator's substantive crime if the crime was:

Answer: Reasonably foreseeable and in furtherance of the conspiracy

Pinkerton v. United States extends liability to foreseeable crimes committed in furtherance of the conspiracy.