MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

5. Diller purchased an ounce of cocaine and divided it into fifty packets of about one-half gram each. She was selling them outside the local high school when Gunn, a cocaine user, noticed her and saw the opportunity to get some free drugs. Gunn stepped up beside her. With his hand in the pocket of his jacket, he thrust his finger forward inside the pocket and jabbed her in the ribs with it. Snarling, he said, “I’ve got a gun. Give me the dope or I’ll blow you away.” Diller reached into her purse, drew a small pistol which she kept there, and shot Gunn, killing him.

If Diller is charged with the murder of Gunn, she should be found

(A) guilty, because it was unreasonable for her to use deadly force to protect illegal contraband.

(B) guilty, if Gunn was unarmed.

(C) guilty, because Diller was committing a crime and therefore had no privilege of self-defense.

(D) not guilty, if it was reasonable for her to believe that her life was in danger.

6. Anthony was a resident patient at the state mental hospital, where he had been receiving treatment for a mental illness diagnosed as chronic paranoid schizophrenia. As a result of his illness, he believed that the governor of his state was part of a nationwide plot to turn all voting citizens into drug addicts. He felt that the only way to foil the plot was to kill the governor, but realized that the law prohibited such an act. He knew that if he was caught making any attempt on the governor’s life he would be punished, but concluded that it would be better to be convicted and punished for a crime than to be turned into a drug addict.

Knowing that the governor visited the hospital every few months, and that when he did he usually ate in the hospital dining room, Anthony volunteered for a job in the hospital kitchen. On the governor’s next visit, Anthony placed poison in food he knew would be served to the governor, intending to cause the governor’s death. The governor ate the food and died as a result. If Anthony is charged with murder in a jurisdiction which has adopted only the M’Naghten test of insanity, Anthony should be found

(A) guilty, since he knew the nature of his act, and that it was prohibited by law.

(B) guilty, unless Anthony can establish that his mental illness made him unable to resist the impulse to kill the governor.

(C) not guilty, since Anthony’s conduct was the result of mental illness.

(D) not guilty, if his delusion was the result of mental disease, and if his conduct was reasonable within the context of that delusion.

7. Ventana was a professional basketball player scheduled to play in an important basketball game on Sunday. On Friday, after wagering heavily on the game, Duggan attacked Ventana with a baseball bat. Duggan’s intent was to inflict injuries severe enough to require hospitalization and thus keep Ventana from playing as planned. As a result of the beating, Ventana was taken to a hospital, where he was treated by Dr. Medich. The following day, Dr. Medich injected Ventana with a medicine to relieve his pain. Because of an allergic reaction to the drug, Ventana died within minutes.