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LAW I: CHAPTER 4

LAW I: CHAPTER 4. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. DEFENSE CLASSIFICATIONS. In criminal law, a defense is a legal position taken by an accused to defeat the charges. Defenses are classified as either substantive or procedural. SUBSTANTIVE DEFENSES.

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LAW I: CHAPTER 4

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  1. LAW I: CHAPTER 4 CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  2. DEFENSE CLASSIFICATIONS • In criminal law, a defense is a legal position taken by an accused to defeat the charges. • Defenses are classified as either substantive or procedural. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  3. SUBSTANTIVE DEFENSES • SUBSTANTIVE DEFENSES: Disprove, justify, or excuse the alleged crime. • Most substantive defenses discredit the facts that the prosecution sought to establish. • Examples of substantive defenses include inability to meet standard of proof, insanity, duress, entrapment, self-defense, alibi, and immunity. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  4. PROCEDURAL DEFENSES • PROCEDURAL DEFENSES: Based on problems with the way evidence is obtained or the way an accused person is arrested, questioned, tried, or punished. • Examples of procedural defenses include statute of limitations, double jeopardy, Miranda rights, and unlawful search and seizure. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  5. INABILITY TO MEET STANDARD OF PROOF • 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. • In fact, the defendant is not even required to present a defense but can instead simply force the government to prove its case. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  6. INABILITY TO MEET STANDARD OF PROOF • Therefore, the defense most frequently used in criminal trials is the inability of the prosecution to meet the standard of proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. • STANDARD OF PROOF: The amount of evidence the prosecutor must present in order to win a case. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  7. INABILITY TO MEET STANDARD OF PROOF • GUILT BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT: The standard of proof in a criminal case where the jury (or the judge in a bench trial) must vote to acquit if there is any reasonable doubt about the defendant’s guilt. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  8. INABILITY TO MEET STANDARD OF PROOF • Because of the constitutional principles that a defendant is presumed innocent and that the prosecution must prove otherwise, this is often the strongest argument the defendant can make. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  9. INSANITY • American law generally recognizes that persons cannot be held responsible for their actions if they don't have the mental capacity to differentiate between right and wrong. • However, four states, including Kansas, Montana, Idaho, and Utah, do not allow the insanity defense. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  10. INSANITY • In other states, the standards for proving this defense vary widely. • Michigan recognizes the verdicts of Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) and Guilty but Mentally Ill (GBMI). CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  11. INSANITY • NOT GUILTY BY REASON OF INSANITY (NGRI): A defense where a person charged with a crime admits the criminal act, but claims they were so mentally disturbed at the time of the crime that they lacked the capacity to have intended to commit a crime. • Such a plea requires that the court set a trial on the issue of insanity alone either by a judge without a jury or by a jury. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  12. INSANITY • Insanity defense claims must be made 30 days prior to trial so the court can order a forensic psychiatric examination. • In Michigan, prosecutors actually have the burden of proof to disprove insanity beyond a reasonable doubt. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  13. INSANITY • A finding of insanity will result in a verdict of not guilty, which generally requires defendants to undergo psychiatric treatment, except in the case of temporary insanity. • Unlike defendants who are found guilty of a crime, they are not institutionalized for a fixed period, but rather they are held within the institution until authorities determine that they are no longer a threat. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  14. INSANITY • Authorities making this decision tend to be cautious. • As a result, defendants can often spend more time there than they would have in prison had they been convicted. • The insanity defense does not apply to people who voluntarily become intoxicated or drugged. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  15. INSANITY • Although the insanity defense is probably the most controversial of all criminal defense strategies, it is also, somewhat ironically, one of the least used. • Virtually all studies conclude that it is used in about one percent of criminal cases; when it is used, it is seldom successful. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  16. INSANITY • GUILTY BUT MENTALLY ILL (GBMI): A verdict where the defendant was deemed to have a mental illness at the time the offense was committed but is not considered legally insane, therefore they understood what they were doing and that it was illegal. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  17. INSANITY • GBMI verdicts allow defendants to be found criminally liable and require them to receive psychiatric treatment while incarcerated, or, instead, to be placed in a mental hospital and then when they are well enough to be moved to a prison to serve their sentences. • U.S. laws allowing pleas and verdicts of guilty but mentally ill were first adopted in Michigan in 1975. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  18. INSANITY • The intent of the Michigan Legislature in approving the new verdict was to decrease the number of insanity acquittals and to simplify jury deliberations by introducing a compromise verdict. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  19. DURESS • DURESS:A defense used when a person does something as a result of coercion or a threat of immediate danger to life or personal safety. • Under duress, an individual lacks the ability to exercise free will. • Duress is not a defense to homicide. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  20. ENTRAPMENT • ENTRAPMENT: When a law-abiding citizen admits committing a criminal act but was induced, or persuaded, by a law enforcement officer. • The defendant must show that the crime would not have been committed had it not been for the inducement of the police officer. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  21. ENTRAPMENT • In other words, the police put the thought into the defendant’s mind. • Entrapment is difficult to prove and cannot be claimed as a defense to crimes involving serious physical injury, such as rape or murder. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  22. SELF-DEFENSE • SELF-DEFENSE: The use of force to protect oneself when in danger. • The law recognizes the right of a person who is unlawfully attacked to use reasonable force in self-defense when there appears to be forthcoming danger of bodily harm. • However, a person cannot use more force than necessary. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  23. SELF-DEFENSE • If, after stopping an attacker, the defender continues to use force, the roles reverse and the defender can no longer claim self-defense. • Excessive force therefore results in a crime, anything from simple assault to murder, depending on how disproportionate the force is. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  24. SELF-DEFENSE • Deadly force can usually be used only by a person who reasonably believes that there is imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm. • A person is also allowed to use deadly or nondeadly force to defend another person from an attack that is about to occur. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  25. SELF-DEFENSE • Reasonable nondeadly force may be used to protect property. • However, some states have enacted controversial Make My Day laws, which allow the occupant of a dwelling to use any degree of force, including deadly force, if they reasonably believe that an intruder might use any force at all against any occupant of the dwelling. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  26. SELF-DEFENSE • These state laws protect the occupant using the force against both criminal prosecutions as well as civil lawsuits for damages filed by an injured intruder. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  27. ALIBI • ALIBI: A defense which alleges proof that the defendant was not at the scene of the crime. • Often testimony from other individuals can be used to establish where the person was, or wasn't. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  28. ALIBI • Other records such as videos that are date- and time- stamped, or work records can help establish the location of an individual at the time the crime was committed. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  29. IMMUNITY • IMMUNITY: The freedom from prosecution even when one has committed a crime. • Immunity may be granted in exchange for an agreement to testify about the criminal conduct of other criminals. • A person with immunity must answer all questions—even those that are incriminating. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  30. IMMUNITY • A witness who refuses to testify altogether or answer specific questions after the grant of immunity is in contempt of court. • CONTEMPT OF COURT: An action that hinders the administration of justice. • It is a crime punishable by imprisonment. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  31. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS • STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS:The maximum period of time that the prosecution has for filing criminal charges. • Most crimes have a time limitation on how long after the crime charges can be filed. • One major exception is murder, however; there is no limit on when murder charges can be filed. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  32. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS • Generally speaking, the statute of limitations for most serious felonies is ten years in contrast to six years for misdemeanors and other lesser felonies. • In Michigan, other exceptions are when the suspect flees the state after the crime or when the victim is under 18. • Both of these circumstances extend the time to file charges. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  33. DOUBLE JEOPARDY • Double jeopardy is a procedural defense because it addresses the merits of whether a case should be tried as opposed to whether a crime was actually committed. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  34. DOUBLE JEOPARDY • DOUBLE JEOPARDY: A legal right which prohibits the government from prosecuting individuals more than one time for a single offense and from imposing more than one punishment for a single offense. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  35. DOUBLE JEOPARDY • Double jeopardy is defined in the Fifth Amendment of the U. S. Constitution, which states that no person shall "be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life and limb.“ • The only way in which a defendant can experience two trials for the same offense is if the first prosecution attempt ended in a mistrial. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  36. DOUBLE JEOPARDY • This is because a mistrial ends a trial prematurely without a judgment of guilty or not guilty, therefore jeopardy has not yet been technically attached to the accused. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  37. DOUBLE JEOPARDY • While double jeopardy protects a defendant against being tried twice for the same crime, it does allow for some criminal offenses to be prosecuted separately by federal and state governments because federal and state judiciaries are considered separate entities. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  38. DOUBLE JEOPARDY • The largest implication that double jeopardy carries is in the event of undiscovered evidence. • Often, after a defendant has been acquitted, law enforcement will find additional evidence that proves the guilt of the accused. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  39. DOUBLE JEOPARDY • However, if the trial is already over and the defendant has been acquitted, the prosecution does not have the right to re-try the case. • For this reason, the prosecution makes every effort to collect all available evidence before arraigning a defendant on charges. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  40. PARTIES TO CRIMES • People can participate in crimes in different ways and to different degrees. • An accessory to a crime is any individual who knowingly and voluntarily participates in the commission of a crime. • PRINCIPAL: The person who commits a crime. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  41. PARTIES TO CRIMES • ACCOMPLICE: An individual who willingly assists a principal but does not actually carry out the crime. • Accomplices are typically present at the scene of the crime. • In contrast, accessories are not typically present at the scene of the crime, but contribute to the success of the crime before or after the fact. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  42. PARTIES TO CRIMES • ACCESSORY BEFORE THE FACT: An individual who incites, aids, or abets a principal to commit a crime. • This person can usually be charged with the same crime and can receive the same punishment as the principal. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  43. PARTIES TO CRIMES • ACCESSORY AFTER THE FACT: An individual, who knowing a crime has been committed, aids the principal or an accomplice to avoid capture or helps them escape. • This person is not typically charged with the original crime but may be charged with harboring a fugitive, aiding the escape, or obstructing justice. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  44. PARTIES TO CRIMES • Federal law states that a person who is convicted of an accessory crime shall be subject to a penalty that does not exceed half of the maximum incarceration or fine for the principle act of the crime. • If the principle crime is punishable by death, the accessory to the crime will not be imprisoned for more than fifteen years. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  45. PARTIES TO CRIMES • Michigan law however does not distinguish between an accessory and the principal. • Whether someone directly commits a crime or is indirectly, but willingly involved, the sentence will be the same. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  46. RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED • The rights of the accused are the essence of due process of law (fair procedures). • They were established in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution and have been continuously refined in courtrooms ever since. • The basis for these rights is the assumption that all individuals are innocent until proven guilty. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  47. RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED • The following rights stem from this belief and are guaranteed to all those accused of a crime: • For a defendant to be found guilty, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused did in fact commit the crimes that they have been charged with. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  48. RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED • The accused have a right to remain silent until they have had the opportunity to speak with legal counsel. • The accused has the right to adequate legal representation. • In the event that they cannot afford to hire an attorney, the court must provide legal counsel at no charge. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  49. RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED • The accused are protected from self-incrimination. • This means they cannot be forced to testify or disclose information that could be used against them in a criminal trial. • The accused has the right to know what the charges are and to confront witnesses testifying against them. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

  50. RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED • The defendant also has the right to gather favorable evidence and subpoena witnesses. • The defendant has the right to a public and speedy trial if desired. • Without this element of due process, an innocent person could await trial—in jail—for years. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

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