Hi everyone, need help with a criminal situation (1 Viewer)

[techguy]

Okay, here is the task set. They've given me a criminal situation, and i have to answer some questions based on the case. Here it is...

Harry has a history of drug abuse from the age of 14. He is now 30 years of age. Ten years ago, he got into an argument with a friend and attacked them with a knife, stabbing them several times and causing serious injury for which he served eight years in prison.
Recently, Harry became involved with a gang wihch invaded the home of an elderly man. The house was ransacked and in the course of this action Harry was suddenly surprised by the old man who was carrying an iron bar and struck him with a knife. The elderly man was left in this condition but one of the theives called the police. A medical team arrived but the elderly man refused medical attention because of his religious beliefs.
At the trial, medical evidence was given that the elderly man would almost certainly not have died if he had accepted medical attention. Evidence was also given in relation to Harry indicating that because of his drug abuse, he did not have a normal degree of self control. Harry also claimed that he was very sorry for having killed the old man.

Questions:
1) List charges that could be laid against Harry.
2) Describe the legal processes from Harry's arrest until just before his trial.
3) Explain what the prosecution would have to do in order to obtain a conviction.
4) Explain the defences that could be raised by Harry's barrister including comments on the strength of his case.

Help is much appreciated
Thanks a lot

 

[clerisy]

Are these supposed to be extended answers/essays like in the HSC or are they shorter questions? Because, esp for part 4, I don't think I could write enough for a longer question on defences in this scenario. You could talk about self-defence (though that'd be pretty weak) and diminished responsibility, I guess. Strength of his case wouldn't be much in my opinion, but that's completely unsupported opinion.


For question 2, just talk about the usual criminal process: interrogation and investigation, bail etc.

For questions 1 and 3, I can't really pinpoint the syllabus dot points the questions are drawing off. I mean, for q1 you could say break and enter and manslaughter, but they're not going to fill much room, are they? You could get into types of crime eg crimes against the person, economic offences, I suppose... and for q3 you might talk about standard of proof and mens rea, actus reus, causation... but I'm just trying to grab things from the syllabus, and I don't think that that's really answering the question.


In short, which I suppose I could have written a while back:
I don't have anything great to offer you.

 

[santaslayer]

1)property crimes
crimes against the person
drug offences


2) in text

3)prove he was gult of his crime Beyond reasonable doubt

4) intoxiacation, diminished resp, accident/error, self defense maybe?menat illness?

 

[techguy]

Thanks to both of you guys!
Iv'e got into a good start thanks to yous.
Cheers=)

 

[Jennibeans]

proving causation here is difficult because the elderly man died due to his religious beliefs & refusing treatment. therefore it is unlikely he can be charged with murder more likely manslaughter.
you can use the case of R v Blaue (1975) here. In this case Blaue stabs a woman who to survive must have a blood transfusion. however she is a Jehovah's witness and refuses & subsequently dies. Blaue was convicted of manslaughter. He appealed saying there was no causation but his appeal was dismissed

 

[CM_Tutor]

Originally posted by Jennibeans
proving causation here is difficult because the elderly man died due to his religious beliefs & refusing treatment. therefore it is unlikely he can be charged with murder more likely manslaughter.
you can use the case of R v Blaue (1975) here. In this case Blaue stabs a woman who to survive must have a blood transfusion. however she is a Jehovah's witness and refuses & subsequently dies. Blaue was convicted of manslaughter. He appealed saying there was no causation but his appeal was dismissed

Wouldn't the felony murder rule get around this problem? I thought that you must take your victim as you find them, including religous beliefs, etc, and his actions led to the death, and it was in the course of committing a serious offence.

Note: Although my Status is Teacher, this is way outside my area, so please don't assume I'm right. I haven't studied any criminal law in a long time, and I was just having a look here and was curious.

 

[~*HSC 4 life*~]

Tutor, how do you know so much? you didn't even do legal!
how old are you? are you like a school teacher? or a undergrad tutor or what? just curious

 

[CM_Tutor]

~*HSC 4 life*~, I started out my undergrad doing Science / Law, and then quit Law in favour of Science. However, 1st year criminal law was a subject I completed (not well - only a credit - but I did complete it). I have a really good memory, and I read a lot. I remember a lot of what I read, even years later, and this fact situation triggered two cases in my memory - one a sitiuation like R v Blaue mentioned above, and another on the felony murder rule.

As for your other questions:
Age - you can guess from my profile
School Teacher - No, I'm a Uni Student (post-graduate). I've just done a lot (and I mean a lot of HSC tutoring, and also done some tutoring of Uni Chem.

 

[~*HSC 4 life*~]

wow! you started high school when i was born

wow, you remember a lot indeedy, good work mate, no wonder you are doing a phd

did you privately tutor HSC subjects?

 

[aLeeOh!]

with #4. youcould put in there somewhere the theory of differential assciation-i think its called-... the theory where the environment in which an indivdual is raised has a great influence on the behaviour, etc... inthis case. harry suffered from drug abuse since he was 14.. and he has also served 8years in goal. you could mention something about ever since he was young he has been exposed to blah blah blah...

also, a partial defence harry could use was provocation/duress.. the old man surprised harry with an iron bar. so harry could claim that he feared for he life when confronted with this weapon. then theres also self defence.
remember in #3 to consider any mitigating factors.. and harry's circumstances....
i dont think these answers are made for one sentence responses.. well not most of them anyway. ask your teacher what is the length expected for the response?... well, you should get a fair idea by what mark is awarded to eachquestion anyway...

 

[ms.cinderella]

you could also mention mitigating and aggravating factors as well.

 

[CM_Tutor]

Originally posted by ~*HSC 4 life*~
wow! you started high school when i was born

That makes me feel so much better. Thanks.

did you privately tutor HSC subjects?

Yes.

 

[~*HSC 4 life*~]

Originally posted by CM_Tutor
That makes me feel so much better. Thanks.

sorry
I was just teasing, don't take anything i say too seriously, sorry if i deeply offended you though :/

 

[CM_Tutor]

Originally posted by ~*HSC 4 life*~
sorry
I was just teasing, don't take anything i say too seriously, sorry if i deeply offended you though :/

Don't take it that way, I recognised that you were stirring - It's just that I have a dry sense of humour at times.