FINAL
EXAMINATION
Criminal Law, Section 3 December
1, 2004
INSTRUCTIONS
1. This is an open book exam. You may consult any written materials that
you have with you at the beginning of the exam.
2. The
examination period will last three
hours. It is recommended that, before
writing anything, you read the questions carefully, determine exactly what they
are asking, note issues that you wish to discuss, and plan your answer. Answers that are concise and well-organized
will receive higher scores than those that are rambling and long-winded. Points will be deducted for answers
containing incorrect or irrelevant statements.
3. You are
encouraged to use subheadings when they help to clarify your analysis and
organization.
4. If the same
analysis would apply to the resolution of more than one issue on the exam,
there is no need to repeat it. Instead,
you should incorporate it by reference.
5. You must
answer both questions on the exam.
Please note that the questions are weighted unequally for grading
purposes. To help you budget your time,
I have indicated the approximate amount of time that each question should take
to answer.
6. If you write by hand, please answer the first
question on a separate pad of paper.
Please answer the second question in the space provided in the exam
packet. Please write legibly. You will receive no credit for answers that
cannot be read.
7. Whether you write by hand or by word
processor, please make sure that you observe the usual rules of English
prose. Use proper punctuation and
capitalization, and write in full sentences.
Please do not use abbreviations unless it is clear what they refer to.
8. Write your
confidential exam number on your copy of the exam and on the front of your
legal pad. Do not write your name or
otherwise identify yourself anywhere on either the exam or your answers.
9. If there are
ambiguities in the facts, or additional facts you would need to resolve a
particular issue, you should state any assumptions that you make, and how they
affect your response. Be careful not to “assume
away” key issues that need to be addressed.
10. At the end
of the examination period, please return this copy of the examination (labeled
as indicated above) along with your answers.
11.
Good luck and Happy Holidays!
PLEASE DO NOT
TURN TO THE QUESTIONS THAT FOLLOW UNTIL YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO DO SO.
Question
1 – “On False River”
(75
percent; approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes)
In November 2004, Pete and Lucy
Scotterson had what appeared to be the perfect life. The blandly handsome Pete was a successful fertilizer
salesman for Manure Du Jour, one of the largest suppliers of agricultural
supplies in the South. The pretty and
vivacious Lucy, then four months pregnant with their first child, was a popular
substitute teacher at Our Lady of Perpetual Misery Grammar School in downtown
But appearances can be
deceiving. In fact, Pete, bored with
Lucy and dreading the prospect of being tied down with a new baby, had, for
several months now, been having an affair with Amber Wave, a thirty-something divorcée
who worked in his office.
On the evening of Thursday, November
25 (Thanksgiving, as it happened), Pete and Amber spoke by telephone. They agreed that at
On Friday morning, the 26th, as
planned, Amber headed to the mall. A compulsive
shopper who had been arrested for shoplifting while in high school (the charges
were ultimately dropped), Amber walked into her favorite store, Timpani Jewels. After browsing among the display cabinets for
a few minutes, Amber noticed a door marked “Employees Only.” Curious as to what might be behind the door, Amber
entered. Inside, she found a room, empty at the moment of any people, which was
obviously used for jewelry repairs. Lying
on a work table in front her was a sparkling necklace made of what Amber believed
were real diamonds, but which were actually cheap rhinestones. The necklace retailed for $299, although Amber
believed that it was worth far more than that.
Amber grabbed the necklace from the
table. While trying to find some place
to hide it, she accidentally dropped her purse, which contained the pistol she
was licensed to carry. The gun
accidentally discharged. A bullet flew
out of the barrel and through a small, open window, located just under the
ceiling above the work table.
Directly outside the window was a
sidewalk that led to the mall’s parking lot.
At the very moment that Amber’s gun fired, a wealthy, childless widower
named Nathan Zuckerman was being pushed down that sidewalk in his wheelchair by
his private nurse, Brenda Patimkin. Nathan
was in the late stages of Parkinson’s Disease, of which he was likely to die
within the next year. One of the
symptoms of Parkinson’s is memory loss and confusion, and in fact Nathan had
mistakenly told Brenda that he was 65, when in fact he was only 64.
Nathan and Brenda were also
accompanied on this day by Brenda’s boyfriend, Coleman Silk.
Unbeknownst to Amber, the bullet
from her gun struck Nathan in the shoulder, causing him to lose consciousness and
begin bleeding profusely. Patimkin did
nothing to help him. After a moment or
two, Coleman said, “Don’t you think we ought to do something to help the old
man?”
Brenda answered, “Oh, Coleman, you
know I stand to inherit a nice chunk of change when Nathan finally croaks. With the disease he’s got, he wasn’t likely
to last more than a few more months anyway.
Is there any reason to go to all the trouble of taking him to the
hospital now? If we wait just a few
minutes, he’ll be dead from loss of blood.”
Coleman then responded, “Whatever
you say, baby. You’re his nurse.”
For the next fifteen minutes, Brenda
and Coleman stood by as Nathan bled to death.
They talked about what they would do with the money that Brenda expected
to receive from Nathan’s estate. Finally,
Brenda tested Nathan’s pulse and determined that he was dead. [Subsequent expert testimony indicated that if
Nathan had received immediate medical assistance, there was a seventy percent
probability that he would have lived for at least a few more months.]
* * *
Meanwhile, Pete was out on his motor
boat fishing. Also out on
Lucy Scotterson, who had overheard
part of the telephone conversation Pete and Amber had had the night before, and
suspected that at 11:00 a.m. her husband would be meeting a woman with whom he
was having an affair, had also come down to False River to investigate.
At about
Although it was being operated in a
lawful manner, the wake from Pete’s boat caused Charles’ kayak to capsize and be
swept out of Charles’ reach. Pete cut
his motor to see what was happening.
Charles, who was not a particularly strong swimmer and was not wearing a
lifejacket, lunged in panic towards Pete’s boat, grabbing the gunwale, and trying
to climb in.
“What are you doing?,” Pete shouted
at Charles. “Get the [expletive] off my
boat.”
“Gee, Mister, I’m practically
drowning here. Can’t you please give me
a ride back to shore?,” responded Ray.
“I said, get the [expletive] off my
boat. Didn’t you hear me the [expletive]
first time?”
Charles, totally panicked, continued
trying to climb onto Pete’s boat.
At this point, Pete picked up the heavy
metal tackle box he had in the boat and threw it at Charles’s head, rendering
him unconscious, and causing him to slip below the surface of the water and
drown.
Lucy, observing all of this from the
river bank, was appalled at what she had just seen. Although four months pregnant, she ran down
to the dock where she began screaming obscenities at Pete, accusing him of
being a criminal.
Pete was so angered by what Lucy was
shouting at him that he took his boat and drove it directly into the dock where
Lucy was standing. As a result, Lucy
suffered serious, though non-fatal, injuries.
She also spontaneously miscarried.
To her surprise, and Pete’s, it turned out that Lucy had been carrying
twins -- both of whom, unfortunately, died as a result of injuries sustained
when struck by Pete’s boat.
* * *
Please
discuss all of the offenses a
Question 2 – “On the Dole”
(25
percent; approximately 45 minutes)
A.
As used in this Section the following terms have the following meanings:
(1)
"Food stamp coupon" means any coupon, stamp, or type of certificate
issued pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Food Stamp Act, 7 USC § 2011 et seq.
B. The unauthorized use of food
stamp coupons, food stamp authorization cards, or food stamp access devices is:
(1)
To knowingly use, transfer, acquire, alter, or possess food stamp coupons, food
stamp authorization cards, or food stamp access devices contrary to the
provisions of the Federal Food Stamp Act or the federal or state regulations
issued pursuant thereto.
C. (1) Whoever commits the crime of unauthorized
use of food stamp coupons,
food stamp authorization cards, or food stamp access devices when the coupons, authorization cards, or access devices amount to a value of
five hundred dollars or more shall be imprisoned, with or without hard labor,
for not more than ten years, or may be fined not more than three thousand
dollars, or both.
(2) When the
coupons, authorization cards, or access devices amount to a value of one
hundred dollars or more, but less than five hundred dollars, the offender shall
be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than two years, or may
be fined not more than two thousand dollars, or both.
(3) When the
coupons, authorization cards, or access devices amount to less than a value of
one hundred dollars, the offender shall be imprisoned for not more than six
months, or may be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or both.
*
* *
Defendant
used food stamp coupons without authorization to buy food for her family, and
is being prosecuted under this statute.
For each of the following five hypotheticals, identify and briefly
explain the defenses that she would have available to her (1) under
A. Defendant's
children were suffering from malnutrition and would starve without the food
that defendant bought with the coupons.
Defendant was too proud to ask her relatives for money, although they
would gladly have given it to her if she had done so.
B. Relying
in good faith on a written opinion from the United States Secretary of Health
and Human Services, defendant believed, incorrectly, that her use of the food
stamp coupons was authorized.
C. Defendant
believed, mistakenly, that the coupons were actually lottery tickets and that
she was obtaining the food through bartering with the cashier in the grocery
store.
D. At
the time defendant used the food stamps, she was extremely intoxicated, having
just consumed numerous glasses of vodka.
E. Defendant’s
teenaged son threatened to harm her baby daughter unless defendant used the
food stamps without proper authorization.
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