Essay Questions and Selected Answers July 2004

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for Art’s death under a felony murder theory.First Degree MurderIn most states, first degree murder requires premeditation or deliberation. Many statesalso include murders that fall under the felony murder rule in the definition of first degreemurder. Thus, if this jurisdiction adheres to that view, Dan may be liable for first degreemurder for Art’s death.Second Degree MurderSecond degree murder generally is murder that does not involve premeditation anddeliberation, but also does not amount to any form of manslaughter. If the applicablestatute defines felony murder as second degree murder, Dan may be liable for that crimeinstead.ConspiracyConspiracy requires an agreement to commit a crime between two or more people, anintent to agree, an intent to commit a crime, and an overt act. A conspirator is liable for allreasonably foreseeable crimes committed in furtherance of the conspiracy. Here, Art, Dan,and Bert clearly agreed to rob Vince’s store with the intent to commit the crime.Conspiracy does not merge with the completed crime. Thus, if Dan was liable forconspiracy, and a court found that Art’s death was foreseeable, Dan could potentially beliable on these grounds as well. However, this is a stretch, especially since Vince killed Art.B. Dan’s Liability for the Death of BertMurderAs mentioned, one potential grounds of liability for murder is intentional killing or killing withan intent to cause great bodily harm. Here, Dan probably intended to kill Bert or at leastintended to cause him great bodily harm. Dan simply shot Bert - there is no indication thathe was merely trying to scare him.First Degree MurderDan may be liable for first degree murder. Although premeditation and deliberation aregenerally prerequisites to a charge of first degree murder, some courts have held that onecan premeditate or deliberate in very short periods of time. However, Dan will argue thathe was “enraged” and had no time to deliberate or premeditate. Due to the spontaneousnature of the crime, Dan will likely not be found guilty of first degree murder. In addition,as discussed below, he is likely not guilty of felony murder. Thus, even if the state murderstatute includes felony murder as first degree murder, Dan will likely not be liable for this3
crime.Second Degree MurderDan is much more likely to be guilty of second degree murder. As discussed above, heintended to kill Bert, but likely did not premeditate or deliberate. As discussed below, heis unlikely to be guilty of voluntary manslaughter or felony murder.Felony MurderA felony murder charge against Dan would be problematic. For one, liability for felonymurder generally ends when the perpetrators have reached a place of safety. Dan andBert had reached Chuck’s house when Dan killed Bert. Indeed, they had begun to divideup the money. This would likely cut off any liability for felony murder based on the robberyof Vince’s store.In addition, the prosecution might argue that Dan is liable for felony murder because hetook $600 from Bert’s pocket. The prosecution might argue that this is a robbery, and thatDan’s killing was a foreseeable result of the robbery. However, this is a weak argument.Dan only decided to take the money from Bert after he shot him. In addition, Dan mightalso be able to argue that since Bert did not have lawful title to the money, no robbery tookplace. This is because one element of a robbery is that the money be “property ofanother.” Thus, Dan is likely not liable for felony murder for Bert’s death.Voluntary ManslaughterDan may argue that he is only liable for voluntary manslaughter. Voluntary manslaughteris a killing that would be murder, but was conducted while the perpetrator was highly upset.The upsetting incident must be the sort that would upset a reasonable person, thedefendant must have been upset, a reasonable person would not have had time to cooloff, and the defendant must not have cooled off. Dan will argue that he was “enraged” byBert’s demand of extra money. However, this argument is unlikely to succeed. For one,Bert’s actions do not rise to the type of extremely upsetting provocation that generallysuffices to reduce a murder charge to voluntary manslaughter. Moreover, there is noindication that a reasonable person would have had such a violent reaction to Bert’sdemand for money. Thus, Dan is likely not liable for voluntary manslaughter.ConspiracyAs discussed above, any underlying conspiracy to rob Vince’s store had likely ended bythe time that the robbers reached Chuck’s house.2. Chuck’s Liability4
Page 1 and 2: CaliforniaBarExaminationEssay Quest
Page 3 and 4: TUESDAY MORNINGJULY 27, 2004Califor
Page 5: Answer A to Question 11)1. A. Dan -
Page 9 and 10: Here, Dan’s strongest argument is
Page 11 and 12: ecause the killing of Art took plac
Page 13 and 14: Here, there is no evidence that Chu
Page 15 and 16: Question 2State X amended its anti-
Page 17 and 18: invites abuse of indigent or undesi
Page 19 and 20: Answer B to Question 22)Validity of
Page 21 and 22: Alice’s CaseAlice’s StandingAli
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Page 25 and 26: Question 3Hank, an avid skier, live
Page 27 and 28: B. ANN’S CLAIM1. Omitted ChildAnn
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Page 31 and 32: the will. If, however, the presumpt
Page 33 and 34: 2. Fred’s ClaimFred (F)’s claim
Page 35 and 36: ecause the “real” beneficiary i
Page 37 and 38: Question 4Victor had been dating Da
Page 39 and 40: Hearsay is a statement made by the
Page 41 and 42: is to satisfy the prosecution’s b
Page 43 and 44: Answer B to Question 41) The issue
Page 45 and 46: 2) V’s TestimonyRelevanceV’s st
Page 47 and 48: substantial effect an the outcome o
Page 49 and 50: Answer A to Question 55)Duty of loy
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Page 53 and 54: 1. Duty of dignity to legal profess
Page 55 and 56: Question 6Jack owned the world’s
Page 57 and 58:
actuary table. The fact that Chip w
Page 59 and 60:
Causation - but for Wilbur driving
Page 61 and 62:
have been injured and then died.Pro
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succeeded on his claim against Wilb
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Essay Questions and Selected Answers July 2004

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