PROFESSOR BATT EXAM NO.

CRIMINAL LAW - 810

DECEMBER 16, 1992

I. (45 minutes)

Sharon Rock states that for several years she has had strange dreams in regard to her son Barry Sanders Rock (age 18). In these dreams her son is attacked by Iranian soldiers, tortured and killed. She is not "exactly certain" how things happened but she does recall that a few nights ago she dreamed that The Great War with Iran" was raging around the family home and her son was being attacked by an Iranian soldier. She thinks that in what a defense psychiatrist calls a "dissociative somnambulistic state" she somehow got out of bed, went downstairs, took a loaded rifle from an unlocked gun rack and came back up stairs. She states that she fired the rifle at the Iranian. The result, however, was that she killed her son. In her statement she says "The Iranian did look very much like Barry." In an interview with defense counsel she says "I want to die for what I did, I'm responsible. Satan must have come out of a cloud and marked me for evil. Tunes of the Times are beyond The Fall." When pressed about the details of the event she says, "I'll go to trial after my first two years in prison and will be represented by Hillary Clinton-I hope." She adds that the "Koran finally got the Last of the Mohicans."

Sharon is a computer operator of high intelligence. In the past she has told her son that he is a drug degenerate who ought to be beaten silly. On the day of the killing Sharon and Barry had a heated argument about her right to choose his friends. Sharon Rock has been severely battered on many occasions by her husband. The husband admits that he beat her because she was habitually unfaithful. In fact, Barry Rock, her son, would beat her whenever he found out she was having an affair. The defense psychiatrist says that perhaps in her dreams she displaced her hostility toward the family males on to the Iranian dream figure and acted out her rage. In addition, it is a matter of record that Sharon in the past served a year as a combat nurse in Vietnam. Sharon Rock is charged with murder in the first degree.

Assume the jurisdiction has a second degree murder statute and the typical common law manslaughter rules. The jurisdiction has a statute which reads as follows: "Every person is presumed to be sane, and to possess a sufficient degree of mental capacity to be responsible for her/his criminal acts, until the contrary be proved to the satisfaction of the trier; and that to establish a defense of insanity, it must be proven by clear and convincing evidence that at the time of the act, the person accused was laboring under a state of psychological or psychiatric disorder from organic, psychological, psychiatric, biochemical or similar cause so as not to comprehend in a meaningful way the significance of the act; or, if she/he did comprehend the significance that he/she was unable through the rational decision-making process to control the urge to perpetrate."

(l) You represent Sharon Rock. What are your legal

approaches to your representation of Sharon Rock? What expert testimony would you want to present on behalf of your client? Explain in detail all aspects of your case.

(2) You are the prosecutor, what will be your legal approaches to the case? What expert testimony would you put on? Explain in detail all aspects of your case.

II. (20 minutes)

Assume that the applicable statute is exactly like Kentucky's K.R.S. 531 (Pornography/Obscenity) which we discussed in class. Assume the information contained in the handout "As Nasty As They Wanna Be." Luther Skywalker Campbell has been charged with the distribution of 5 copies of the tape "As Nasty As They Wanna Be. "

These tapes have been distributed to 5 radio stations. The prosecution charges that the tapes are obscene and that by distributing the tapes Campbell has committed criminal acts.

Campbell faces a penalty of up to five years in prison. Each tape contains 18 songs. Two songs are very "nasty", four are "crude/lewd" and twelve are well done rap. Several songs contain explicit references to acts of sexual intercourse and deviate sexual intercourse. In a number of the songs women are treated as erotic victims and as "sexual objects".

(l) You represent Campbell. In very specific detail indicate what your defense will be. What witnesses do you plan to put on the stand and what do you anticipate their testimony would be?

(2) You are the prosecutor. In specific detail what will your case be? What witnesses would you use and what would you anticipate their testimony would be?

The case is being tried in a metropolitan area of approximately 450,000 people. The population is a true mix of classes, races and religions.

III. (20 minutes)

l. Critique the "RETRIBUTION" approach to criminal justice.

2. Critique the "HUMANITARIAN" approach to criminal justice.

Be sure to make use of the ideas contained in our handout "Comments on the Purposes and Effects of Official Sanctions." You are free to illustrate your answer with case examples.

IV. (20 minutes)

(a) Explain in as much detail as possible the law of conspiracy. Use examples in your explanation.

(b) Explain in as much detail as possible the law of attempt. Use examples in your explanation.

V. (15 minutes)

Define and explain in as much detail as is possible.

a. justifiable and excusable homicide

b. perjury

c. extortion

d. kidnapping

e. arson

VI. (10 minutes)

Critique the defense approach in Commonwealth v. Gibbs (see transcript of murder case in our text).

VII. (10 minutes)

Assume all the information contained in Rusk v. State (the Maryland rape case). Criticize the court's opinion in the case in as much detail as is possible given the time limitation.

VIII. (15 minutes)

Explain in detail how we through law deal with the problem of drugs in our society. What would an informed critic say about our approach? Be specific in setting forth the critical analysis.

Make sure you draw upon the material found in our casebook in answering this question.

IX. (10 minutes)

Assume all the material contained in State v. OLKON (lawyer charged with conspiracy to commit swindle and attempted theft by swindle). Assume that you represent the defendant OLKON. Develop in detail his defense.

X. (15 minutes)

Explain in detail the traditional law of larceny (my lecture) and indicate the defects in this body of law.