Criminal Law and Procedure Flashcards

Under Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 540, a preliminary arraignment must generally occur within how many hours of a defendant's arrest?

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.

Pennsylvania's 'corpus delicti' rule historically required corroboration of a defendant's confession by proof that:

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.

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:

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.

Pennsylvania's 'castle doctrine' under 18 Pa. C.S. § 505(b)(2.1) permits a person to use deadly force without retreating when:

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.

Under Pennsylvania law, the insanity defense (18 Pa. C.S. § 315) provides a complete defense when:

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.

A Pennsylvania preliminary hearing serves what primary purpose?

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.