DEFENSES TO PROSECUTION. 2 Copyright and Terms of Service Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011....

DEFENSES TO PROSECUTION

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Copyright and Terms of Service

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TYPES OF PROSECUTION

◦ Violations Example: Traffic tickets

◦ Misdemeanor Example: 1st offense DWI

◦ Felony Example: Murder

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DEFENSES FOR WOMEN

Battered Woman Syndrome Defense:

◦ History of abuse

◦ In fear of injury or death from a probable assault by the actor

◦ Actions based on the assault history of the actor against the victim

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DEFENSES FOR WOMEN

A husband comes home every night and physically abuses his wife. One night, the battered woman hears her abuser opening the door of their home. She waits for him just inside the door and hits him over the head with an iron skillet when he opens the door. The man dies from the blow to the head. The wife is able to file the “Battered Woman Syndrome Defense” against prosecution.

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DEFENSES FOR WOMENPMS Defense

◦A defense in England and other European countries

◦Not used in the US to this date

◦Similar to the insanity plea

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DEFENSE FOR VETERANS

What is PTSD?

◦Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

◦Veterans of combat ◦Based on hardships and

experiences endured in combat

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Do all Veterans have PTSD?

◦ The law specifically states Vietnam Veterans◦ But any veteran can claim the PTSD defense if

he can show such traumatic experiences triggered his reaction

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A combat veteran who had witnessed the horrors of war is walking down the street. He sees a boy lying on the ground curled up in a defensive position. A pool of blood surrounds the boy’s body. A grown man is beating the boy with a steel rod. The veteran reacts instantaneously to the boys outcry of pain and kills the boy’s assailant. The veteran reacted just as he would have in combat. Therefore, he can fall upon the PTSD defense.

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JUVENILE CRIMINALS

Who is a Juvenile?

◦ In the State of Texas a juvenile is defined as any child not older than 16 years of age and not younger than 10 years of age

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JUVENILE CRIMINALS

Why are juvenile laws different?

◦Broken a law or in need of supervision

◦“Civil Offenses”

◦Records sealed at 17 (unless continued record of criminal activity)

◦Sealed records cannot be opened without a court order

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JUVENILE CRIMINALS

What happens when arrested?

◦“Taken into Custody”◦Transported◦Taken before a Magistrate ◦Written or oral statement ◦Fingerprinted and

photographed◦Released or turned over

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DURESS

Coerced or forced by another person to commit a crime

No criminal history Fear of:

◦ Bodily Injury◦ Exposure◦ Injury of another◦ Death

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ENTRAPMENT “Enticed” to commit a

crime No criminal history Never seen committing

such a crime Law enforcement

provides means and motivation

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ENTRAPMENT

A law enforcement officer goes into a neighborhood where a majority of the people are starving. He leaves a bag of groceries sitting on the hood of a car, waits, and arrests the person who takes the abandoned food.

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IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE

Impossible to control conduct

Emotions not normal Outside factors impact

action Action of another triggers

impulse to act

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IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE

A man has not eaten anything for weeks. He is walking down the street and sees a display of apples in a cart in front of a grocery store. The starving person walks by the store and grabs two apples, immediately beginning to eat one of them. A police officer sees the offense and places the person under arrest for theft.

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PUBLIC DUTY DEFENSE

Police are justified in their use of force

The action defends another The action prevents serious harm

to themselves

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NECESSITY

Avoid a greater evil or crime Had no other choice Fear of consequences if they did not commit

the crime Any other normal, prudent person would have

made the same decision

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NECESSITY

A woman is drowning in flood waters. Her arm is wedged under a fallen tree. Blood is pouring out of her arm and the flood waters are rising. A man finds her. In fear that she will drown or bleed to death before other help can arrive, he amputates her arm in order to free her. The greater evil would have been to let the woman drown or slowly die from blood loss.

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ACCIDENTAL Result of

happenstance Harm not planned No intent to harm No influencing factors

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ACCIDENTALA worker is rebuilding a brick ledge. He has a scaffolding set up on the sidewalk with a warning sign. He turns to add another cleaned brick to the pile, sneezes and accidentally knocks an existing brick from the pile. A person passing underneath the scaffolding is struck by the brick and suffers the serious bodily injury of a skull fracture. The workers defense is “Accidental.”

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SELF-DEFENSE

Defending oneself No pre-meditation A normal, prudent person

would have reacted in the same manner

One level of force greater than the force being used against you

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THE DURHAM RULE

Temporarily Insane Not in control of one’s

senses at the time of the crime

Emotionally driven Actions contrary to

personality The jury decides whether

to accept a plea of insanity

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A father comes home and finds a man attempting to rape his daughter. The father reacts violently in defense of his daughter, and beats the attacker over the head with an object within his reach. His defense is Temporary Insanity, due to his mental state when he saw his daughter being attacked.

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THE DURHAM RULE

Temporarily Insane


THE M’NAUGHTEN RULE

Incapable of determining right from wrong Provable in court The jury agrees

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Resources Texas Code of Criminal Procedure and Texas State Penal Code

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/ Battered Woman Syndrome Defense

http://www.essays.cc/free_essays/d5/arn49.shtml PTSD in the Forensic Setting

http://dpa.state.ky.us/library/manuals/mental/Ch15.html Supreme Court Case: The State Of Washington v. Joseph Henry Maish

http://www.mrsc.org/mc/courts/supreme/029wn2d/029wn2d0052.htm Entrapment and Due Process

http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/lawreview/frames/253/lordtxt.html Do an Internet search for the following:

◦ Review journal killer’s mental illness recedes◦ Defense Witness Calls Death of Cop's Wife Accidental◦ TPI Crim 40.04

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http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/

http://www.essays.cc/free_essays/d5/arn49.shtml

http://dpa.state.ky.us/library/manuals/mental/Ch15.html

http://www.mrsc.org/mc/courts/supreme/029wn2d/029wn2d0052.htm

http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/lawreview/frames/253/lordtxt.html

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