Arizona statutes
o Burglary
Third-degree
Enter/remain unlawfully in non-residential or fenced yard or
commercial place with intent to commit felony therein
Entering car with intent to commit felony therein
Second-degree: third, but residential
First: 2 or third, but also accomplice and/or with explosives/deadly
nd
weapon/dangerous instrument
o Six classes of felony, three of misdemeanor, one of petty offenses (rare), one
“open” felony where you can work your way from felony to misdemeanor
o AZ has determinate sentencing
Statutory interpretation
o Archeological: set in stone (originalist/constructivist)
o Nautical: legislature builds boat, courts act as captain (“living” constitution)
o Donaldson
Issue: is person guilty of theft if he breaks into other person’s car and
engages electrical system except engine?
Facts:
Donaldson broke into other person’s car and engaged electrical
systems except engine; didn’t start car b/c cop saw him and
stopped him
After trial, convicted of second-degree theft
Donaldson did motion for judgment of acquittal; denied
Rationale: asportation not necessary for second-degree theft; only
possession/control
Holding: court used MPC’s “possession/control” as guide: defendant
controlled van, therefore it was theft
Definitions:
o Obiter dicte: dicta that is useless/overruled OR dead words
o Interlocutory: when state wants higher court to overrule lower court on some
legal issue
o Caption: capture (asportation not necessary for caption)
o Respondeat superior: corporation can be found guilty of crime if employees
acted on behalf of corporation
o Sine qua non: without which, not OR without A, no B
o De novo: new (when the appellant court looks at the evidence new, instead of
just looking at the law like the app. ct. normally does)
o Nolo contendere: no contest
For all purposes except initial plea, no contest = guilty
o Per curiam: unanimous; unsigned
Criminal prosecution steps
o Crime
o Investigation
o Charge
Grand jury: indictment
Prosecutor: information
o Trial
o Plea bargain (at any time)
o Jury instructions
o Defendant’s (only defendant’s; state can’t) motion for directed verdict
o Double jeopardy: jeopardy attaches when jury is sworn in
o Basis for appeal: defendant must show legal error to get appeal
If reversed on appeal for insufficient evidence, defendant can’t be retried
because double jeapordy
Elements of a crime (must have concurrence of the elements)
o Actus reus
o Mens rea
o Causation
o Attendant circumstances
Actus reus
o Act by omission
West
Russell didn’t care for sis
Sis died (bedsores)
Court: failure to act = legal duty, so guilty
o Legal duty does not = moral duty ( )Beardsley
o Voluntariness of act
Winsor
Dude in jail; cops found weed on him
Claimed didn’t fit the crime of having drugs in jail because crimes
require voluntariness and being in jail is involuntary
Court: no
o Act by
Watson
Dude visiting friend
Cops came; searched apt.; found coke on dresser
Court: dude didn’t have possession or control
Mens rea
o Common law
Types of intent
General: intent to do act (mens rea not required)
Specific: intent to do act with certain outcome
o MPC
Four levels of culpability
Purposely (intentionally in AZ)
Knowingly
Recklessly
Negligently
o Defenses
Willful blindness (purposely/knowingly):
Elements
o Defendant must believe that there’s high probability that
fact exists and
o Defendant must take deliberate actions to avoid learning
this fact
If you have reason to believe you’ve committed an action, that’s
deliberate ignorance/willful blindness
“A deliberate effort to avoid guilty knowledge is all the guilty
knowledge the law requires.”
Transferred intent (purposely):
Elements
o Defendant did action
o Defendant’s action inflicted harm to person other than
intended victim
Transferred intent still applies even if harm to intended victim and
intended victim is different
Mistake of fact elements:
Mistake must be honest
Mistake must be reasonable
Mistake of law elements:
Mistake must be honest
Mistake does NOT have to be reasonable
Deterrence
o General: so society won’t do what defendant did
o Specific: so defendant won’t do it again
Ring: jury, not judge, determines if defendant is guilty of death for 1 -degree murder
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