PA Bar Criminal Law and Procedure 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 540, a preliminary arraignment must generally occur within how many hours of a defendant's arrest?
- 6 hours
- 12 hours
- 24 hours (Correct answer)
- 48 hours
Correct answer: 24 hours
Pa. R.Crim.P. 540 requires that a defendant be brought before a judicial officer for a preliminary arraignment without unnecessary delay, which courts have interpreted as within approximately 6 hours and is generally required within 24 hours of arrest.
Question 2: Pennsylvania's 'corpus delicti' rule historically required corroboration of a defendant's confession by proof that:
- The defendant was at the scene of the crime
- A crime actually occurred, independent of the confession (Correct answer)
- The defendant had a prior criminal record
- A co-conspirator confirmed the confession
Correct answer: A crime actually occurred, independent of the confession
The corpus delicti rule requires the prosecution to establish independent evidence that the crime occurred before a defendant's out-of-court confession can be admitted, preventing convictions based solely on unreliable confessions.
Question 3: Under the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act (18 Pa. C.S. § 5703), recording a private conversation without the consent of all parties is:
- Permissible if one party consents
- A felony of the third degree (Correct answer)
- Only a civil violation
- Permissible for law enforcement without a court order
Correct answer: A felony of the third degree
Pennsylvania is an all-party consent state under 18 Pa. C.S. § 5703; intercepting oral communications without all parties' consent is a third-degree felony.
Question 4: Pennsylvania's 'castle doctrine' under 18 Pa. C.S. § 505(b)(2.1) permits a person to use deadly force without retreating when:
- They are anywhere in public
- They are in their dwelling or curtilage and did not provoke the attacker (Correct answer)
- They are defending a neighbor's property
- They are a licensed firearms carrier
Correct answer: They are in their dwelling or curtilage and did not provoke the attacker
Section 505(b)(2.1) removes the duty to retreat when a defendant is in their dwelling or its curtilage, was not the initial aggressor, and the attacker is not a household member entitled to be there.
Question 5: Under Pennsylvania law, the insanity defense (18 Pa. C.S. § 315) provides a complete defense when:
- The defendant had any mental illness at the time of the crime
- The defendant, as a result of mental disease or defect, lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the conduct (Correct answer)
- The defendant's IQ tested below 70
- The defendant was involuntarily medicated
Correct answer: The defendant, as a result of mental disease or defect, lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the conduct
Pennsylvania's insanity defense under § 315 requires that the defendant, as a result of mental disease or defect, lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality (wrongfulness) of the conduct.
Question 6: A Pennsylvania preliminary hearing serves what primary purpose?
- To determine the defendant's guilt or innocence
- To determine whether a prima facie case exists to hold the defendant for trial (Correct answer)
- To set the trial date and select a jury
- To allow the defendant to enter a guilty plea
Correct answer: To determine whether a prima facie case exists to hold the defendant for trial
The preliminary hearing in Pennsylvania is a prima facie hearing at which the Commonwealth must present evidence sufficient to establish that each element of the charged crime occurred and the defendant probably committed it.
PA Bar Criminal Law and Procedure 2
Under Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 540, a preliminary arraignment must generally occur within how many hours of a defendant's arrest?