Types of Defenses - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Types of DefensesSlide2

6 types of criminal defense

Insanity

Intoxication

Ignorance

Age

Entrapment

JustificationSlide3

Insanity

Defendant’s state of mind negates his/her criminal responsibility.

“Not guilty by reason of insanity.”

State of mind at the time of the crime.

Psychiatric testimony.

Types (pg. 142 in book)

The

M’Naghten

Rule

Irresistible Impulse

The

Durham

Rule

The Insanity Defense Reform Act

The Substantial Capacity TestSlide4

Examples of Insanity

John Hinckley, Jr.

In 1981, Hinckley developed an obsession with the movie Taxi Driver, in which Jodie Foster stars as a child prostitute and Robert

Deniro

plays Travis

Bickle

, who plots to assassinate the presidential candidate in the film. As he grew more desperate in his attempts, he even considered taking his own life in front of her to gain her attention. Eventually he decided to attempt an assassination on President Ronald Reagan. As the president left the Hilton Hotel, he shot six times at Reagan, wounding a few other people in the process. One of the bullets ricocheted and hit the president on the chest. Hinckley’s defense team pled for insanity defense and succeeded, he was acquitted of all of his 13 charges of assault, murder and weapon counts. Due to the high profile of the case, the public perceived the insanity defense as a loophole in the legal system which allowed a clearly guilty criminal to dodge incarceration.

Charles MansonSlide5

Intoxication

Voluntary intoxication is not a defense.

Involuntary intoxication (duress or mistake) is a defense.

Judgment may be decreased in some cases of the intoxication defense.

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE:

Katie Flynn/Brand New

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE:

“Zombie” attack in Florida this past year.Thoughts?Slide6

Age

A child is not criminally responsible for actions committed at an age that precludes full realization of the gravity of the situation.

Under age 7:

Not held criminally responsible

Age 7-14:

May be held responsible.

Age 14-17 or 18:

Can be held responsible…depends on jurisdiction.Slide7

Example of Age Defense

A judge has ruled that a Pennsylvania boy, who was only 11 years old when he was accused of shooting his father's pregnant girlfriend in the back of the head with a shotgun, will be tried as an adult. Jordan Brown faces first-degree murder charges for both

Kenzie

Marie

Houk

and her unborn child. Brown, 12, could face life in prison if convicted in adult court.

"

This offense was an execution-style killing of a defenseless pregnant young mother. A more horrific crime is difficult to imagine," Lawrence County Judge Dominick Motto said. Brown is accused of taking his youth-model 20-gauge shotgun into Houk's bedroom on Feb. 20, 2009 and shooting her in the back of the head while she was laying on the bed. She was 8-1/2 months pregnant at the time. Prosecutors said he was jealous of his father's new girlfriend and her unborn son.

The judge heard evidence and testimony from both the prosecution and the defense before refusing to move the case to juvenile court. Under Pennsylvania law, defense attorneys have to convince the judge that Brown would be more amenable to rehabilitation in the juvenile system.

Evidence the judge considered from the prosecution included: Brown wrapped his shotgun in a blanket so that Houk's

7-year-old daughter would not see it as he walked to Houk's bedroom. He took the spent shells with him and threw them away on the way to school. Tests showed the shells were fired from his shotgun.

He continues to deny to even his own doctors that he shot

Houk

.

Judge Motto said he relied on prosecution psychiatrist, Dr. John O'Brien's assessment in making his ruling. O'Brien found that Brown was trying to minimize his wrongdoing and shift blame

.

http://crime.about.com/b/2010/03/31/12-year-old-to-be-tried-as-an-adult.htmSlide8

Entrapment:

Excused from criminal liability if he/she can convince the jury that LEO’s used traps, decoys, and deception.

Legal

Illegal

Can set traps based on information gathered from informers, undercover agents, and codefendants.

Can use ordinary opportunities without excessive inducement.

Idea of crime came from Government or Police.

Persuasion

Not willing to commit crime.Slide9

Entrapment Example

Attorneys for the NATO 3 accused of creating Molotov cocktails and planning attacks across Chicago say it was the undercover police officers who brought the firebombs to their apartment, and the charges against them are the result of "

entrapment to the highest degree

."

"It is sensationalism by the police and the state to discredit the protesters that have come here to nonviolently protest," said defense attorney Michael Deutsch. He went on to say there were two police informants who infiltrated the group and "we believe they’re the ones who provoked this and they’re the ones who had the illegal activity and the illegal materials." Watch Deutsch's comments in the videos below.

The undercover officers, known to the defendants as "Mo" and "Gloves," say they were with the defendants when they made the explosives and discussed the attacks. They say the men bought fuel, poured it into beer bottles and cut up bandanas for fuses.

The NATO 3 are Brian Church, 20, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Jared Chase, 24, of Keene, NH; and Brent Vincent

Betterly

, 24, of Oakland Park, Fla., and they have been charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, material support for terrorism and possession of explosives. They could be sentenced to as many as 85 years in prison. Court documents show the arrests were the result of a weeks-long police investigation,

authorities said, hinting that they had audio recordings of the defendants making threats.The defendants were among those arrested Wednesday

in a raid of a Bridgeport apartment by police that defense attorneys say was illegal. They were also in a car that was stopped by Chicago police last week. Video of that incident alleges police tried to intimidate and harass the men.

The Sun-Times reports

law enforcement officials asked a judge for the "no-knock" warrant because they were preparing to move the explosives to another location and feared they'd lose track. Authorities maintain the raid was just an effort to stop an "imminent threat."

"When someone was in the position (of having) Molotov cocktails — that's pretty imminent," said Police

Superintendant

Garry McCarthy. "It was not a completed investigation."

Authorities say the group had planned to first attack police stations and squad cars to divert attention while they attacked Obama’s national campaign headquarters in the Prudential Building, Emanuel’s home in Ravenswood and financial buildings.

See our previous story for more details and to read the criminal complaint

.

Policing experts say the undercover police tactics are similar to those used to

arrest eight people

before the Republican National Convention in 2008 in St. Paul, Minn., to arrest the man accused of

planting a bomb at Wrigley Field

, and to arrest the five men accused with

plotting to blow up a bridge outside of Cleveland last month. Also, a policing expert told the AP that using terrorism charges for Molotov cocktails "kind of stretches the bounds to define that as terrorism." In a piece titled "Whose Firebombs?" Newstips writes:Chicago police have a long history of infiltrating peaceful protest groups and fomenting violence - it’s one reason the Red Squad was banned by a federal court order (later lifted at the request of Mayor Daley) - and infiltration of protest groups seems to be standard operating procedure for “national security events.” And nationally since 9/11, an embarrassing proportion of “anti-terrorism” cases have involved plots proposed, planned, and enabled by police agents.http://chicagoist.com/2012/05/21/terror_suspects_claim_entrapment_by.phpSlide10

Justification

Defendant acknowledges committal of crime.

5 types:

Consent:

Lack of consent

Rape or Larceny

Self-Defense:

“battered wife syndrome”Immediate dangerStand Your Ground:“castle exception”FloridaDuress:Forced to commit a crime to avoid harm or death of himself or others.

Necessity:Act out of necessity according to own judgment“lesser of two evils”Slide11

Examples of Justification

Consent: Jack Kevorkian, found guilty of murder although given “consent” to assist suicides.

Stand Your Ground, Self-defense, or murder:

Trayvon

Martin

Duress: Patty Hearst, 1974Slide12

Cases to be Briefed

Com. Vs. Thompson

(Ignorance of the Law)

Durham vs. U.S.

(Durham Rule)

Downing vs. Com

(Involuntary Intoxication)

State vs. Rudy B. (Age)McCoy vs. Com. (Entrapment)Hughes vs. Com. (Justification: Self-Defense)