Fact Pattern
A decides to rob a local bank. To that
end, she scouts the bank for a few weeks, identifies the weaknesses in its
security, and puts together a plan to safely complete the robbery. Her goal is
to execute the perfect robbery—to quickly steal all of the cash in the bank, without
hurting any of the bank’s customers or employees. A also buys a handgun to use
in the course of the robbery, but only to scare anyone who might stand in her
way. A has neither used a handgun nor committed a robbery before.
A walks into the bank with her handgun
visible, and with several empty bags to carry the money she is about to steal. She
yells, “Everybody be cool! This is a robbery! If you refuse to comply with my
orders, I’ll kill you!” She then walks to the back of the bank, towards the
area where the tellers sit. The tellers hand A all the money in their
registers, which A promptly places into her bags.
As A turns to leave, a locker in the
back of the bank catches A’s attention. The locker is protected by a simple
padlock, so A believes there may be additional valuables in the locker. She
demands that the bank’s employees open the locker, but they claim they don’t
know the combination to the padlock.
As a result, A decides to take matters
into her own hands. Having watched several movies where a gunman “shoots out” a
padlock, A is confident that she can break the padlock by shooting it. A also
believes that if she shoots the lock, she won’t cause any harm to the customers
or the employees. This is because the locker is placed directly in front of a
concrete wall, and there are no people standing behind it. A aims her handgun
at the padlock from 10 feet away and fires. The bullet misses the locker,
strikes the concrete wall behind the locker, unexpectedly ricochets off the
wall, and strikes B (a bank employee) in the chest. B dies instantly.
In a Model Penal
Code jurisdiction, A is arrested and charged with homicide. Assume the
prosecution could prove the above facts at A’s trial.
Questions
Of
what type of homicide, if any, is A guilty? Explain, considering all forms of possible homicide liability
under the Model Penal Code.
Question 1
Of
what type of homicide, if any, is A guilty? Explain, considering all forms of possible homicide liability
under the Model Penal Code.
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