A & B Are Fighting in the Streets
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
SCHOOL OF LAW
CRIMINAL LAW
LAW A505 B
Final Examination Professor Jacqueline McMurtrie
Spring Quarter 2002 Time: 3 hours
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Instructions
This exam is a modified “open book” exam. You may have open and refer to your casebook (Kadish & Schulhofer: Criminal Law and its Processes), any material handed out during the quarter and any notes or outlines that you prepared alone or with a study group. You may not use any commercially prepared outlines or any other textbooks, study aides or hornbooks.
You have three hours for this examination.
The exam consists of a page of instructions and four questions (pages 2 through 10). Please count the pages before starting the exam to make sure you have all 10 pages. Answer the questions in the space provided below each question.
PLEASE BE SURE THAT YOUR EXAM NUMBER APPEARS AT THE TOP OF EACH PAGE OF YOUR EXAM.
You have five minutes walking time after the end of your exam in which to reach room 310.
REMEMBER: Other people in your exam room may be taking exams for other classes that are longer or shorter than the one you are taking. You are responsible for keeping track of how much time you have for your exam.
DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS INSTRUCTION SHEET UNTIL 1:00 P.M.
*Good Luck!*
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PLEASE WRITE THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS ON THE SPACE PROVIDED BELOW EACH QUESTION
QUESTION #1 (40 Minutes)
Defendant is appealing from a judgment convicting him of two counts of receiving a firearm while under indictment. He was charged and convicted under 18 U.S.C. §922(n), which provides:
It shall be unlawful for any person who is under indictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year to…receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate commerce.
Another provision of the code, 18 U.S.C. §924(a)(1)(D), provides that: “Willful” violation of provision 922(n) is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
At trial Defendant argued that a person cannot violate §922(n) without having knowledge that he is under indictment. Defendant requested a jury instruction that the government had to prove that he knew he was under indictment when he received the firearms. The District Court refused to give the requested instruction. The Defendant was convicted and sentenced to a total of 115 months in prison.
Question:Did the District Court commit reversible error by failing to give the defendant’s proposed jury instruction?
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Question 1 writing space continues on the next page.
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End of Question 1. Question 2 begins on next page.
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QUESTION #2(50 minutes)
Defendant and his 16-year-old employee went hunting for deer with firearms although the Defendant knew it was archery season for deer. The Defendant was armed with a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with double aught buckshot. Neither the Defendant nor his employee was wearing safety clothing. The Defendant parked his truck on a public road on which were located many residences and which was near woods frequented by children and pets. The Defendant separated from his employee with the understanding that they would meet back at the truck. As the Defendant neared his truck at twilight, he heard movement in the undergrowth and saw an object he believed to be a deer. The Defendant fired his shotgun across the road and hit his employee, who was killed instantly.
Three years prior to the shooting, the Defendant was convicted of Unlawful Hunting of Big Game (deer) in the Second Degree. The Defendant concedes that on the day of the shooting he committed the crime of Unlawful Hunting of Big Game (deer) in the First Degree. The relevant statute provides:
1)A person is guilty of Unlawful Hunting of Big Game in the First Degree if the person was previously convicted of any crime under this title involving unlawful hunting, killing, possessing, or taking big game, and within five years of the date that the prior conviction was entered the person…acts in violation of any rule of the commission or director regarding seasons, bag or possession limits, closed areas including game reserves, or closed times.
2)Unlawful Hunting of Big Game in the First Degree is a class C felony.
Question:Can the Defendant be prosecuted for the crime of murder for the shooting death of his employee? What would you need to research about the homicide statutes in your jurisdiction in order to determine whether a murder charge was viable? Please narrow your answer to whether the Defendant can be prosecuted for murder, rather than manslaughter or some lesser degree of homicide.
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End of Question 2.
QUESTION #3(50 minutes)
The Defendant, a physician, was indicted for conspiracy. It is alleged that he agreed with three other individuals to bribe an employee of a medical college to accept his son for admission as a student. In pursuit of the scheme, defendant paid the sum of $5,000 to one of the coconspirators who, in turn, was supposed to pass this money to the employee at the medical college. However, things went awry during the meeting. The medical college employee became angry when the co-conspirator offered the bribe and threatened to call campus security. In order to avoid being caught, the co-conspirator assaulted the medical college employee and knocked him unconscious. On his way out the door, he rifled through the employee’s belongings and stole his wallet. The co-conspirator was convicted of conspiracy, attempted bribery, assault and theft.
Question:Is the Defendant liable for the crimes of attempted bribery, assault and theft under a theory of accomplice liability or as a co-conspirator? What would you need to research about the laws of your jurisdiction in order to determine whether the Defendant could be held liable for these crimes as an accomplice or as a co-conspirator?
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End of Question 3. Question 4 begins on the next page.
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QUESTION #4(40 minutes)
Defendant and the victim were neighbors who had developed an antagonistic relationship. On several occasions before the shooting, the Defendant and the victim had hostile confrontations. Defendant also understood the victim to have threatened to shoot a number of people in town. On a September morning in 2001, Defendant left his auto body shop, drove to the woods near the victim’s house, and parked his truck about 500 yards away from the house. Defendant walked through the woods with a loaded .22 gauge rifle, allegedly to hunt squirrel and scout for deer. At the base of a hill located approximately 300 yards from the victim’s home, Defendant claims to have fired his rifle twice at a squirrel. Defendant then heard the victim yelling, “Get the f___ out of here or I will put a bullet in you.” Defendant was perched on a rock ledge some twenty to thirty feet above the victim and could see that the victim was approximately forty to sixty yards away. The Defendant felt exposed and vulnerable on the rock shelf, and believed that the victim would shoot him. The Defendant turned and fired a shot at the victim before running to his truck. The victim had died from a single gunshot wound to his head.
The Defendant is charged with Murder under MPC §210.2(a) (found on p. 1076 of your textbook). The Defendant concedes that he purposely caused the death of the victim, but claims that he acted in self-defense.
Question:How will the Defendant’s self-defense claim be analyzed under the Model Penal Code?
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~END OF EXAM~