Exam 15: General Defenses and Justification

The defense of duress is available to a criminal defendant if at the time of the offense charged,the defendant was acting under extreme mental duress.

Waldo has a long history of mental illness.He also has a long beard,long hair and lives alone in a small house.One day he gets into an argument with his neighbor Jerome.The argument escalates to the point that Waldo goes after Jerome with an ax.He strikes Jerome in the head,killing him instantly.When interviewed by the police,Waldo claims that Jerome had been using cosmic rays to kill the tomatoes in his garden.The police note that Waldo has neither tomato plants nor a garden.He further tells the police that he is sorry Jerome is dead because the Bible says,"Thou shalt not kill." At trial for murder,Waldo's attorney raises the defense of insanity.Based on the facts presented,which of the following is the likely outcome of the trial?

For purposes of criminal prosecution in Texas,an individual is considered to be an adult upon attaining 21 years of age.

Mike goes out of town on a business trip.His wife Brenda remains at home.Mike is due to return on Friday.Late Thursday night Brenda awakens to a noise.Fearing it is a burglar,Brenda grabs the pistol from the bedside table.At that moment she notices a figure walking quietly down the hallway.Without waiting,Brenda fires a shot at the figure.A voice cries out,"Don't shoot! It is me Mike.I came home early." Brenda turns on the light to discover that she has shot Mike in the hand.She calls 9-1-1.In a few minutes an ambulance and a police officer arrive.Mike is taken to the hospital while the police officer interviews Brenda.As to Brenda's shooting of Mike:

Robert decides to make extra money by operating a fantasy football website where individuals can wager on the outcome of their fantasy football teams.Before starting the site,Robert checked with his attorney who told Robert that such a website did not violate the Texas gambling statute because the internet is regulated by the federal government,not the states.Three months after operating the site and making thousands of dollars,Texas Rangers arrest Robert for gambling promotion.Robert will be found not guilty of the charge due to the fact that his mistake of law was derived from legal advice from his attorney.

Texas follows a variation of the ________ Rule as the test of insanity.

Under Texas law,a 15-year-old can be prosecuted in the adult justice system without first processing through the juvenile justice system if the offense charged is a ________ offense.

Without provocation,Dave punches Sam in the nose.Sam reacts by drawing a knife and stabbing Dave four times.Miraculously,Dave survives the wounds.Under Texas law,Sam has only used "force," not "deadly force," because Dave did not die as a result of the stabbing.

Marcus is stopped for driving 55 mph in a 30 mph zone."I did not realize that the speed limit was 55 here," Marcus tells the state trooper.Marcus' lack of knowledge of the speed limit is no excuse because mistake of ________ rarely serves as a valid legal defense.

John,angry because he was fired from his job,returns to the workplace with several loaded firearms.He shoots his former boss and a dozen co-workers and customers,killing six people.He is arrested and charged with capital murder.At trial,John raises the defense of insanity,claiming "I must have been crazy.No one in their right mind would shoot that many innocent people." John's use of the insanity defense will likely be successful.

Ignorance of the existence of a law is NOT a legal defense for violating the law:

Mistake of fact is a defense to a criminal charge if a reasonable mistake negates the kind of ________ required for commission of the offense.

The defense of mistake of fact may be used only if the mistake negates:

An element of an offense which the prosecutor must disprove as part of the case in chief is known as an ________.If the prosecutor fails to disprove this element,the accused is entitled to be found not guilty.

When a criminal defendant does not deny that he engaged in the conduct of which he is accused but argues that the offense charged is too severe for the facts of the case,the defendant is asserting the defensive strategy of:

Raphael is charged with arson after burning down several buildings.At trial,several psychiatrists testify that Raphael suffers from severe delusions; he believes he is the right-hand man of the devil.The jury finds Raphael not guilty by reason of insanity.With this finding:

Mario's young son steps on a piece of glass and slices his foot.He is bleeding profusely.Concerned that the son might bleed to death,Mario opts not to call an ambulance but to drive his son to the hospital.During the trip,Mario greatly exceeds the speed limit and runs through various red lights and stop signs.Upon arrival at the emergency room,the doctor inspects the son's wound and says,"Glad you got here quickly.Another couple of minutes and he would have been a goner." When Mario goes to the hospital waiting room,a police officer spies him and issues him a citation for the various traffic violations.Mario should be able to avoid conviction for the traffic violations by using the necessity defense.

John,a 19-year-old male,moves from Montana to Texas.He soon meets Janice,a 16-year-old female.They have several dates and ultimately engage in sexual intercourse.Janice's father finds out about the sexual conduct of John and Janice and calls the police.When interviewed by the police,John admits to the sex act but expresses surprise to learn that the age of consent in Texas is 17."I thought it was 16,like in Montana," he says.John's mistake of law will NOT be a defense to a charge of sexual assault of a child because ________ of the law is no excuse.

Under Texas law,a homeowner may NOT use deadly force to prevent a burglary unless the burglar is threatening to use deadly force against the homeowner.

John operates a small grocery store.Much of his business is selling beer and snacks to customers.Frequently he has underage individuals attempt to buy beer.John knows that it is illegal to sell to underage persons but he hates to turn away the business.He comes up with the idea of selling snack cakes to persons under 21 at an inflated price and giving them a free six-pack of beer.The inflated snack cake price more than covers the cost of both items and returns a tidy profit.John runs his scheme for about a week until a police officer arrests him for providing alcohol to a minor.John says,"I know it is illegal to sell to a minor but I did not know it was against the law to give alcohol to a minor." The police officer could correctly respond to John,"Your ignorance of the law regarding alcohol: