Criminal Defense Case Analysis
Throughout this document a discussion of two main defense types used within our criminal justice system will be explored: factual and legal. The factual defense will be extremely brief but the legal defense will offer two sub-group defenses justification and excuse along with six sub-categories for each. Justifications six sub-groups consist of the necessity defense, self-defense, defense of others, defense of home and property, resisting unlawful arrest, and consent. The excuse defense consists of duress, intoxication, mistake, age, entrapment, and syndrome-based. In addition a brief discussion on the legal and medical perspectives mental illness and insanity play in the court room will further be presented.
When a factual defense is used during a criminal trial the defendant and attorney are claiming to the court the defendant had nothing to do with the criminal offense that took place. As a result the defendant is seeking not to be held criminally liable for the charges brought forth by the state. The defendant might claim he or she was in another location during the time the crime occurred and may have an alibi as key piece of evidence.
The second type of defense is the legal defense and it consists of two groups: justification and excuse, with each consisting of six sub-categories. Justification occurs when the defendant admits to committing the criminal act and believes the act was necessary in order to prevent a greater harm.
1. Necessity sets the grounds for each justification presented. When a defendant brings into play the necessity defense he or she is claiming the unlawful course of action taken was necessary as it prevented or assisted with avoiding a greater harm to the defendant or a third party (University of Phoenix, 2010).
2. Self-defense and deadly force is established when the defendant displays to the court the attacker created a degree of fear which forced the defendant to use a level of force any reasonable person under the same situation would apply as a means to avoid imminent injury or death. Depending on jurisdiction, an individual may need to prove he or she attempted to flee for safety but was unsuccessful, an apparent danger existed, a preemptive and revenge strike did not take place by the defendant on the attacker, and in the event the defendant gets the upper hand, the defendant discontinued all offensive attacks and fled to safety (Teens Health, 2010).
3. The Defense of others can be used when an individual witnesses another individual being victimized to the point serious injury or death is most likely to occur. Moreover, some states allow an individual to intervene to a level in which the third party could act. The defendant may not assist the third party during a lawful act, such as a law enforcement officer making an arrest or if the third party was initially the instigator (University of Phoenix, 2010).
4. A vast majority of states do not allow an individual to use deadly force to protect property of any kind. There are a few states, such as Oklahoma and Florida for instance that do allow the use of deadly force but only under certain circumstances, such as a carjacking. The elements that compose the defense of one’s home and property are: protection of personal property, of a home or habitation, another individual’s property, and use of a mechanical device. Furthermore, some jurisdictions allow one to defend a business but with non-lethal force (Google, 2010).
5. Any individual who resists a lawful arrest in any state can be held criminally liable. But resisting an unlawful arrest in some jurisdictions is justifiable so long as the level of resistance and conditions coincide with that states laws. In order to prevent an unlawful arrest certain states require an officer to inform the suspect of the charges brought forth and use a valid arrest warrant in situations where a warrant is required (University of Phoenix, 2010).
6. The consent defense is the last type of defense and asserts that an individual who was injured or killed during the time the crime occurred either agreed to the actions performed or understand beforehand the negative consequences that exist while engaging in the specific activity (University of Phoenix, 2010).
An excuse defense is a personal condition or circumstance that occurred during the time the criminal offense took place, and as a result the defendant believes he or she should not be held criminally liable under criminal law.
1. Duress is a defense in which the defendant commits an illegal act as a result of being coerced, verbally or physically threatened, or to protect possible injury or death to a third party. An example would be a man who is forced at gun-point to participate in the raping of another in order to prevent injury or death to himself or the third party. The crime committed in most jurisdictions must be less serious than the harm avoided (Video Judge, 2010).
2. Two forms of intoxication exist: voluntary and involuntary. Few states accept the intoxication defense due to the fact a vast majority of individuals willingly self-intoxicate and know the effects. Involuntary occurs when an individual unknowingly consumes some type of illegal drug, such as LSD or Rohypnol that renders the individual helpless. In addition a defense of involuntary intoxication can be used due to no mens rea (University of Phoenix, 2010).
3. The defense mistake is a misinterpretation, misunderstanding, or forgetfulness of some fact that relates to a situation. For a mistake to be used an individual truthfully and honestly must have had no idea they were committing or involved in a crime. An example would be for an individual to go on vacation to Cuba and while on vacation bring back a box of Cigars his brother had asked for (University of Phoenix, 2010).
4. Age or infancy-immaturity defense relieves individual youth from criminal liability-culpability who are under a specified age, such as seven. Most jurisdictions across the United States will not hold any child under the age of seven liable for their actions due to believing individuals of this age cannot establish the necessary mens rae to commit an act of violence. Moreover, states like Massachusetts can charge an individual between the ages of 14 and 17 as an adult for serious crimes and 17-year-olds will be charged as adults for serious crimes (University of Phoenix, 2010).
5. For the entrapment defense to be used one must prove the government coerced or repeatedly pressured the defendant into committing an illegal act that individual under normal circumstances would have never committed. Two main tests are used to determine entrapment: subjective and objective. Subjective focuses on mens rea while objective focuses on the governments conduct. An example would be an undercover officer who is selling x-rated movies to a suspect and repeated over a period of time bugs the man into purchasing child porn. The man does so to make the officer stop asking (Wikipedia, 2010).
6. Numerous syndrome-based defenses exist, such as battered women, battered child, sexual abuse, urban survival, and black rage. A syndrome is a multifaceted indicator that displays a clinical picture of a disease or disorder. The defense is predicted on or significantly enhanced by accepting the syndrome as an excuse for why the defendant engaged in such criminal activity-violence An example would be a child who had been sexual abused by a parent and as a result to end the sexual suffering killed the parent (Parzon, 2004, p. 131-155).
Due process protects individuals from being held criminally liable in the event one is legally incompetent to stand trial. Legally incompetent would be a history of mental illness or a medical professional who after conducting a series of tests proved a mental disease or defect was present and made the defendant incapable-incompetent of his or her actions. This determination is extremely important to determine as it allows the courts to issue a punishment of jail-prison or some type of rehabilitation-psychological treatment facility.
Such a case would involve an individual who states he or she is insane or was temporarily insane when the crime took place. The courts use two elements when determining an insanity defense: there was a lack of mens rae and although mens rea was present the defendant should be relieved from prosecution due to a mental disorder or disease (Parzon, 2004, p. 131-155).
All the defenses presented within this paper have been scrutinized in court rooms throughout the United States. Those opposed and in favor of such defenses will continue to debate whether syndrome-based defenses, such as battered women’s syndrome should be used to reduce a sentence for a woman who unlawfully took the life of her partner. No matter what defense route an attorney uses in court, factual or legal, the prosecutor and defense attorney will be forced to present facts and evidence that will assist with winning the case.
References
Google. (2010). Use of Force-Deadly Force. Retrieved March 6, 2010, from http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl;=en&q;=define:Use+of+force&ei;=55KVS9qFO
aFmQfC8cCPBA&sa;=X&oi;=glossary_definition&ct;=title&ved;=0CAYQkAE&cts;=1268093759915
Parzon, M. (2004, October). Toward a Culture-Bound Syndrome-Based Insanity Defense. Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law
Teens Health. (2010). Self-Defense: Use Your Head. Retrieved March 6, 2010, from http://kidshealth.org/teen/safety/safebasics/self_defense.html
University of Phoenix, (2010). Week two overview. Retrieved March 6, 2010, from University of Phoenix, Week Two, rEsource. CJA343-Interdisciplinary Capstone Course Website.
Wikipedia. (2010). Entrapment: United States. Retrieved March 6, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment
Video Judge. (2010). What is duress: Under Contract Law. Retrieved March 7, 2010, from http://www.videojug.com/expertanswer/facts-about-breach-of-contract-2/what-is-duress-under-contract-law
