1. CRIMINAL LAW 2.4 CRIMINAL DEFENSES

2. Defenses  For a conviction to occur in a criminal case, the prosecutor must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the act in question with the required intent.  Defendants are not required to present a defense.  Defenses fall into the following categories:  No crime has been committed  Defendant did not commit the crime  Defendant committed a criminal act, but the act was excusable or justified  Defendant committed a criminal act but is not criminally responsible for his or her actions.

3. “NO CRIME HAS BEEN COMMITTED”  Defendant must prove either (a) no crime was committed or (b) there was no criminal intent.  Example: If Katie accidentally takes the wrong Acura home, she can’t be convicted of car theft because she didn’t intend to steal the car.

4. “THE DEFENDANT DID NOT COMMIT THE CRIME”  Assuming the crime has been committed, but the defendant did not commit it, they must present an alibi: evidence that the defendant was somewhere else at the time the crime was committed.

5. “THE DEFENDANT COMMITTED A CRIMINAL ACT, BUT THE ACT WAS EXCUSABLE OR JUSTIFIED”  Defenses for this category include:  Self-Defense: a person has the right to use reasonable force in self-defense. There must be a threat of imminent danger of bodily harm. The defender can not continue to use force after the attacker has been stopped.  Defense of Property or Others: a person has the right to defend another person from an attack about to occur or to use reasonable, nondeadly force to protect property.

6. “THE DEFENDANT COMMITTED A CRIMINAL ACT BUT IS NOT CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS OR HER ACTIONS.”  Infancy: children under a specific age shall not be tried for their crimes but shall be turned over to juvenile court.  Intoxication: defendants can claim that at the time of a crime, they were too intoxicated to know what they were doing.  Voluntary intoxication is usually not a defense.  Insanity: people who have a mental disease or defect should not be convicted if they don’t know what they’re doing or don’t know if it’s right or wrong.

7. “THE DEFENDANT COMMITTED A CRIMINAL ACT BUT IS NOT CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS OR HER ACTIONS.”  Entrapment: the defendant committed a criminal act but claims he or she was induced to commit the crime by a law enforcement officer.  It must be proven that the defendant would not have committed the crime if it weren’t for the inducement of the police officer.  Duress: the defendant committed the crime as a result of coercion or a threat of immediate danger to life or personal safety.  Necessity: the defendant committed a crime because they were compelled to react to an unavoidable situation in order to protect life.

8. “THE DEFENDANT COMMITTED A CRIMINAL ACT BUT IS NOT CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS OR HER ACTIONS.”  Prevention of Crime: law enforcement officials can claim this defense, which allows them to violate the law if they do so reasonably.  Diminished Capacity: the defendant can claim that they are not insane, but suffer from a mental impairment that makes them unable to formulate the required intent for a particular defense.  Usually used to lower charge from first-degree to second-degree murder.