Professors Swanson and Sheridan, Criminal Law, Fall 1992
QUESTION #1 50%
Victoria Jackson and Phil Hartman met in 1991, shortly after Hartman left his first wife, Jane Curtin. Curtin continued to reside in the family home with Hartman's dog, Checkers. Hartman moved into Jackson's apartment, leaving everything behind except what clothing he could pack in one suitcase. Curtin changed the locks on the house, got a good lawyer, and filed for divorce. After a protracted and ugly divorce proceeding, the family court judge awarded Curtin an enormous amount of spousal maintenance and ruled that Curtin was entitled to keep all the marital property. The judge said Hartman could have the dog.
Jackson and Hartman, penniless after paying attorneys' fees, decided that the judge's order was entirely unreasonable and that Hartman was entitled to at least half of the property he and Curtin had acquired over the years. A few nights after receiving the divorce decree, Hartman and Jackson sat at their kitchen table, drinking beer and commiserating. Hartman himself drank only about three beers. Jackson, on the other hand, drank nine or ten. At one point during their mope-fest, Hartman mumbled: "I've been robbed. Well, two can play at that game." Jackson, on the verge of passing out, nodded what Hartman took to be her assent.
Hartman sprang from, his chair, grabbed his coat and car keys, and said, "Let's do it, then?" Jackson said, "Do what?" Hartman responded, "Get what's coming to me, that's what." Jackson, in her drunken stupor, thought Hartman wanted to get his dog.
Hartman and Jackson drove straight to Curtin's house. They could see the upstairs bedroom light on; the rest of the house was dark. Jackson waited in the car. Hartman told her to shut off the headlights, but to leave the engine running. Hartman knew the locks had been changed. He also knew that the latch on one of the kitchen windows was broken. He pushed the window up and climbed in.
Hartman went into the dining room. He grabbed a handful of silver flatware from the china cabinet and stuffed the goods into his pockets. He moved into the living room to look around. He saw his color television, VCR, and stereo ensemble. Hartman wheeled the whole entertainment center to the front door. He unlocked the front door, pushed the entertainment center out and down the sidewalk to his car. Jackson got out of the car. Although Hartman did not ask for assistance, Jackson helped him load the electronic equipment into the back seat.
Hartman went back inside through the front door. He walked upstairs to look for his Thighmaster. In the upstairs hallway, Hartman encountered Jane Curtin. She was wearing one of Hartman's bathrobes. Curtin had apparently heard some of the commotion downstairs because she was holding a shotgun and pointing it directly between Hartman's eyes. Curtin cursed at Hartman and ordered him out of the house. Hartman, scared to death that Curtin, a crack markswoman, would actually shoot him, rushed at Curtin. Hartman wrestled the gun away from Curtin. He hurled the gun downstairs. The gun discharged, but no one got hit.
Hartman demanded that Curtin give him his bathrobe. Curtin said, "It's mine, now, bucko. Just ask Judge Sheridan." Hartman, believing his troubles would be over if only Curtin were dead, whispered, "I ought to kill you." Hartman punched Curtin in the nose, breaking it but not doing any permanent damage. He ripped the bathrobe off Curtin's body as she lay writhing on the floor.
Clutching the bathrobe, Hartman ran down the stairs and headed for the front door. One of the neighbors had heard the gunshot and called the police. Two officers arrived at the scene just in time to catch Hartman running out the front door. Jackson was asleep in the passenger seat of Hartman's car. The engine was still running.
You are an assistant county attorney. You must decide, based on these facts, with what, if any, crimes Phil Hartman and Victoria Jackson will be charged. In your memo discussing the range of charging possibilities, you should also consider any defenses which might be available to either Hartman or Jackson.
QUESTION #2 50%
Danny Quail was removed from his government position in November, 1990. Almost immediately, he received an offer of employment from one of his buddies, Florence Taint, who he worked with on a government committee, the Council For Competitiveness. Taint owned a small chemical company called "Caustics R Us" that specialized in producing hazardous chemicals. Taint offered him a job as the plant manager at the sole chemical plant owned by Caustics R Us.
Quail, who had experienced some depression after leaving his government job, applied himself to his new job with the relish he had earlier shown only when playing golf with his father's friends. The plant flourished, producing huge amounts of very dangerous chemicals. As part of the manufacturing process, the plant produced some very toxic byproducts, including a chemical, IR, which was a known carcinogen. Disposal of this byproduct in the required fashion was a costly process, which involved shipping it to the coast, where it was burned in an incinerator located in an inner city neighborhood.
Despite his success as the plant manager, Quail could not shake his lingering feelings that there was more to life than making huge amounts of money and dangerous chemicals. His depression worsened, and he eventually only went to work at the insistence of his wife, Mary Tyler More. Quail had difficulty making decisions, even simple everyday decisions (whether to put on the brown shoes or the blue shoes, whether to send his kids to prep school at Andover or Exeter, whether to buy stocks or bonds); the condition worsened until, at times, he was unable to get out of bed.
At the same time, the American economy worsened. The plant began experiencing some fall-off in orders, and Caustics R Us was having some difficulty paying a variety of its bills. Quail, who was seeing a psychiatrist at this point, became even more despondent; he told the doctor that he did not care about human life at all--even his own. Quail had not been to work in several months.
The doctor urged Quail to return to work and make the hard decisions that would need to be made about the company's future. Quail returned to work, but felt like he was in a daze. He became very angry when confronted with a bill for disposal of IR, the cancerous by-product of the manufacturing process. He angrily told the plant foreperson, Emily Ebert, to simply dump half of the plant's production of IR into the nearby Fluss River. Quail said that disposal of this waste in this manner would save the plant thousands of dollars. When Ebert told Quail that this might be dangerous, Quail said Ebert had to do it or he would fire her.
For the next 6 months, Ebert dumped the IR into the Fluss River. The IR seeped into the groundwater in the area. Fortunately, only one family in the area, the Browns (mom, dad, and Jimmy), used the groundwater for their drinking water. The Browns noticed that their water tasted unusual, but they kept on drinking it. Within a year, all three of the Browns had developed a rare form of brain cancer. The cancer was caused by the repeated exposure to the IR. Mom and Dad Brown died from the cancer within a short time; Jimmy was recovering (he had not consumed as much of the contaminated water), but, as is always the case in test questions, he died in a car accident while being transferred from one hospital to another in an ambulance.
When investigating the deaths, the medical examiner spoke with Ebert and Quail about the source of the IR. Ebert admitted that she had illegally disposed of the IR, and that she knew that it was dangerous, but she had no idea that IR could cause anyone's death. Quail indicated that he was aware that IR could cause deadly brain cancer, but he did not remember ever giving Ebert the order to dispose of the IR in an improper manner.
A state statute makes it a felony to "knowingly dispose of IR in a manner not authorized by law."
Discuss Quail's and Ebert's criminal liability for the deaths of the members of the Brown family. Assume that the state has adopted, as its statutory scheme, the common law of homicides. Discuss any defenses either defendant might have, and the likelihood of success for any defense.
QUESTION #3 25%
Evan Emry had a long history of penny-ante criminal behavior. Even as a four-year-old child, he shoplifted candy at a local grocery store. Evan's mother, Flora (with whom he still lived), was aware of and approved of this behavior.
As an adult, Evan had continued this behavior and had graduated to more serious property offenses, including stealing cars. He had never been arrested for any sort of offense against a person, although his mother was aware that Evan used to threaten to kill anyone who got in his way. By age 25, Evan had spent about half of his adult life (since age 18) in various jails and penal institutions.
Evan also had a live-in girlfriend, Gloria Gill. He and Gloria often went to malls together to shoplift items from stores. They usually brought along another friend, Hilda Hill, who would return the items for cash after Evan and Gloria were finished shoplifting.
On April 3, 1990, Evan decided that he wanted to make a shoplifting expedition. He told his mother that he was going out shoplifting with Gloria and Hilda, but that he decided he wanted to bring along the handgun she kept by her bed for protection. His mother asked him why he wanted to take the gun, as she had never seen him carry a gun before. Evan told her that he was tired of being locked up in jail and that he was not going to go peacefully any more.
Flora, who was concerned that Evan might hurt someone with the gun, decided that she would alter the gun so that it would not work. Without telling Evan, she loaded the gun with blanks and handed the gun over to him.
Evan went to his bedroom and told Gloria of his plan to go shoplifting. She agreed to go along; she saw Evan hide the gun in his waistband, but said nothing. They picked up Hilda along the way to the mall.
When they reached the mall, they immediately began going about their business. Mall security, however, became suspicious after a report from a merchant and began following the three. Security noticed Evan and Gloria stealing items, and then they watched as Hilda returned them for cash. Security intercepted the trio at the door of one store and brought them to the security office where they called police to have them arrested.
While sitting in the room, Evan pulled out his pistol, pointed it at Sid Sentry, a security guard, and fired it at his head. The gun discharged, but, since it fired a blank, the security guard was not injured by a bullet. Sentry, however, saw Evan point the gun at his head; after Evan pulled the trigger, Sentry immediately collapsed on the floor. Evan was disarmed by the other people present.
Sentry was rushed to the hospital. He died that same day from a heart attack he suffered as a result of the fear he experienced when Evan pulled the trigger.
Discuss Evan, Flora, Gloria, and Hilda's criminal liability for Sentry's death.
QUESTION #4 25%
Sue Johnson and Mark Jones dated for several months before Mark moved into Sue's home in July of 1990. Within a couple of months, however, and unbeknownst to Mark, Sue began dating a coworker, Paul Smith. In September, Sue asked Mark to move out, telling him that they would still date but that she needed some "space." Mark left some of his personal belongings in Sue's basement, but he did not have a key to her house.
Between September and December, Mark and Sue saw each other occasionally, but Sue was often distant and uncommunicative. Mark frequently left notes for Sue inside her front door, which she usually left unlocked. In the notes, Mark pleaded with Sue to take him back. He also accused her of "having an affair."
On December 15, 1990, Sue entertained Paul Smith in her home. At about midnight, Sue and Paul went upstairs to bed. Shortly later, Sue heard a noise downstairs; Paul offered to check it out. Clad only in his pajamas, he went downstairs.
Within seconds, Sue heard a loud crash. She then heard what she thought was Mark Jones's voice yelling, "What the hell are you doing here?" Sue called 911 and requested that the police come right away. For the next minute or so, Sue heard the sounds of a fight downstairs.
When the police arrived, they found the front door standing open. Paul Smith was lying face down on the living room floor. He was bleeding from two wounds in his upper torso. He died on the way to the hospital. The medical examiner later concluded that Paul had bled to death from two horizontal stab wounds to the chest. One of the wounds had penetrated his heart.
The police found a note from Mark Jones addressed to Sue Johnson on the floor next to where Paul had been lying. The note read: "This is your last letter." The police did not find any weapons in the house.
Within an hour of Sue's 911 call, Mark Jones was arrested in his car, which was parked in a SuperAmerica parking lot several miles from Sue's home. On the seat next to him the police found a folding hunting knife. The blade was open and had blood on it.
After the officer read Mark standard the Miranda warning, Mark told the police that at about midnight, he'd decided to drop a note off at Sue's house to let her know that he wouldn't be bothering her anymore. When he arrived, he saw a light on upstairs. Mark said he knocked, but no one answered so he went inside and walked into the living room, intending to leave the letter on a coffee table.
Suddenly, Mark said, someone grabbed him from behind. Mark said he crashed to the ground and saw someone coming at him with something "shiny" in his hand. Mark and the man struggled for several minutes. Finally, Mark pushed the man backward with all his might. He ran out the door, jumped into his car, and sped off. He said he drove around for awhile trying to figure out what had just occurred. When he pulled into the SuperAmerica parking lot just before his arrest, Mark noticed his knife on the seat. He told the police that he did not remember removing his knife from its case and using it during the fight.
At the police station, 90 minutes after Sue's 911 call, Mark Jones's blood alcohol level as measured by an Intoxilyzer was .18%.
Since his arrest, Mark Jones has consulted with Dr. Marvin Ziporyn, a forensic psychiatrist, for a complete examination. The examination consisted of a physical examination, a biographical and medical history questionnaire, a mental status examination, open-ended dialogue, and a perusal of laboratory studies, police reports, and reports of other psychological examinations.
Based on the entire examination, Dr. Ziporyn concluded that Mark was suffering from a specific mental disorder he called "organic brain syndrome," an actual pathology to the tissues of the brain. According to the doctor, organic brain syndrome can be caused by many things, including prolonged and excessive alcohol consumption. The symptoms exhibited by Mark which led the doctor to this diagnosis were:
Dr. Ziporyn concluded his report by noting that Mark's judgment could have been so impaired because of the brain damage that he was not capable of distinguishing between right and wrong when he killed Paul Smith.
You are an assistant county attorney. You must decide, based on these facts, with what, if any, crimes Mark Jones will be charged. In your memo discussing the range of charging possibilities, you should also consider and discuss any defenses which might be available to Mark.