FYLSX Criminal Law: Homicide 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under the common law, 'malice aforethought' can be established by which of the following states of mind?
- Intent to kill only
- Intent to kill or cause serious bodily harm, depraved heart, or felony murder (Correct answer)
- Premeditation and deliberation only
- Any intent to cause harm to another
Correct 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.
Question 2: Dale sets a trap intending to seriously injure his neighbor. The neighbor dies from the injuries. Dale is most likely guilty of:
- Involuntary manslaughter
- Voluntary manslaughter
- Murder, because intent to cause serious bodily harm is malice aforethought (Correct answer)
- No homicide because Dale did not intend to kill
Correct 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.
Question 3: For the 'cooling off' doctrine in voluntary manslaughter, courts examine:
- Whether the defendant actually cooled off before acting
- Whether a reasonable person in the defendant's situation would have cooled off
- Both whether the defendant actually cooled off and whether a reasonable person would have (Correct answer)
- Only the time elapsed between provocation and the killing
Correct 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.
Question 4: Under the Model Penal Code, 'extreme mental or emotional disturbance' (EMED) differs from common law heat of passion in that:
- EMED requires actual physical provocation by the victim
- EMED allows a broader range of triggering circumstances and applies a subjective standard (Correct answer)
- EMED applies only to premeditated murders
- EMED requires expert psychiatric testimony in all cases
Correct 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.
Question 5: 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:
- Is not liable because the killing was not foreseeable
- Is liable because the death was a foreseeable result of the dangerous felony (Correct answer)
- Is only liable if he personally participated in the shooting
- Is liable only if the co-felon was fleeing at the time of death
Correct 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.
Question 6: Which scenario best illustrates 'voluntary manslaughter' rather than 'involuntary manslaughter'?
- A driver runs a red light and kills a pedestrian
- A hunter accidentally shoots his companion mistaking him for a deer
- A father catches a man molesting his child and beats him to death in a rage (Correct answer)
- A surgeon performs a non-emergency operation while intoxicated and the patient dies
Correct 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.
Question 7: Which of the following is the best definition of 'deliberation' as required for first-degree murder under common law?
- The killing must be planned at least one day in advance
- The defendant must have reflected coolly and calmly on the decision to kill (Correct answer)
- The defendant must have acted with extreme recklessness
- The defendant must have used premeditated means to carry out the killing
Correct 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.
FYLSX Criminal Law: Homicide 4
Under the common law, 'malice aforethought' can be established by which of the following states of mind?