Criminal Law Course @ Moritz College of Law

Electronic versions of the two key Ohio revised code handouts...

can be downloaded here:

Download 2010 Ohio liability-MR statutes

Download 2010 version of Ohio homicide statutes

Please use the comments to this post to report any problems accessing these documents or indicating if you want/need me to post any other materials.

"Trial to begin in boy's death at Mass. gun expo"

The title of this post is the headline of this AP article reporting on a sad case about to become a headline-making criminal trial in Boston.  Here are the basics:

Eight-year-old Christopher Bizilj -- 4-foot-3 and 66 pounds -- stepped up to the firing range to shoot an Uzi as his father and 11-year-old brother watched from a few feet away. As Christopher fired the 9mm micro submachine gun at a pumpkin, the weapon flipped backward and shot him in the head.  He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Prosecutors brought manslaughter charges against the gun club where the machine gun shoot took place, two men who supplied the weapons and a small-town police chief who owns a company that sponsored the gun fair.  On Monday, the first trial begins in what is expected to be a heart-wrenching recounting of Christopher's death on Oct. 26, 2008.

Edward Fleury, the former police chief in the tiny western Massachusetts town of Pelham, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter as well as four counts of furnishing a machine gun to a minor.  Fleury was charged because he owned COPS Firearms & Training, which co-sponsored the gun fair at the Westfield Sportsman's Club.  He also hired the two men who supplied the guns and ran the shooting range portion of the event.

Fleury's lawyer, Rosemary Curran Scapicchio, says there is no way Fleury could have anticipated that a child would die when he co-sponsored the event.  The two men who supplied the guns -- Carl Giuffre and Domenico Spano -- had conducted the same gun shoot at the Westfield club for seven years without incident.

Fleury's lawyer also argues that prosecutors should have called Christopher's father, Dr. Charles Bizilj, to testify before the grand jury that indicted Fleury.  Charles Bizilj brought his two sons to the machine gun shoot and gave them permission to fire the Uzi.

"The prosecutor urged the grand jury to find that Chief Fleury disregarded a probable risk of death of a child.  However, the child's father did not believe that allowing his son to fire the machine gun would create a probable risk of death," Scapicchio wrote.  "The truth is that death was not a probable consequence. Instead, it was a tragic pure accident."

Hampden District Attorney William Bennett did not return calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Bennett has said Charles Bizilj chose the compact Uzi for his son after he was assured it was safer than a larger weapon.  He said the small size of the gun, along with its rapid rate of fire, actually made it more likely that the third-grader from Ashford, Conn., would lose control of the weapon and the muzzle would come close to his face.

Bennett said Charles Bizilj was not charged because he was a layman and based his decision to allow his sons to fire the gun on information from others who should have known it was too dangerous....

Charles Bizilj said Christopher had fired handguns and rifles previously but had never shot an automatic weapon such as an Uzi.  "I watched several other children and adults use it. It's a small weapon, and Christopher was comfortable with guns.  There were larger machine guns with much more recoil, and we avoided those," he told The Boston Globe the day after his son's death.

Bennett said Christopher was one of at least four children who fired automatic weapons at the fair.  He said Fleury had wrongly assured Giuffre and Spano that it was legal for children to use the Uzi.

Charles Bizilj was filming his son and captured the shooting on video.  Fleury's lawyer has asked the judge to exclude the graphic video from the trial.

The Bizilj family has been devastated by Christopher's death, said Bruce Melikian, an attorney who represents the family in a wrongful death lawsuit against Fleury, Spano and Giuffre. "I'm not sure what this trial will accomplish," Melikian said.  "I think their main concern is that no one else ever has to go through this again."

Fleury faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted on the manslaughter charge.  He faces a maximum of 10 years if convicted of furnishing the weapon to a minor.

This sad real case almost sounds like a hypo from a criminal law exam, and thus it might present a good opportunity to test your knowledge of various doctrines.

Working plans for exam review sessions

As of this writing, and as discussed in class, I am planning to have (at least) two general review sessions:

• Monday, Dec. 6 at 2pm 
• Friday, Dec. 10 at 2pm

Please let me know ASAP in comment or via e-mail if additional such sessions are desired (or whether alternative times the week of Dec 6 would be preferred).

Crim Law exam prep open thread for the long holiday weekend

Congrats to all for getting one exam behind you, and be sure to take some special time for review and reflection on what you did right (and wrong) in the exam preparation and taking process.  Also, be sure to take some deserved time off during the holiday weekend.

On the sad (but reasonable?) assumption that you will not be able to put all future exams out of your mind during the long weekend, I have created this post to provide a forum for questions (and answers?) about our upcoming Crim Law exam.  I expect our exam to be quite similar in style and structure to those I have given in prior years (many of which can be found here and here and here), so you can/should check out past my exams to get a sense of what is on the horizon for you on December 13.

Feel free to ask any and all questions you might have about our final exam in the comments here.  (I will bring any especially important answers into the text of this post or create a new post, if needed).

Specifics for (last?) administration of practice exam(s)

I have reserved Room 354  on Tuesday, October 19 starting at 11:00am for another administration of the practice exam. 

I will plan to give to all those students who show up just the "original" practice exam (the one for which there is a memo reviewing the substance).  But anyone who has already taken the original and now would like to take on a different question should let me know ASAP.  I will happily bring an alternative practice question for those who are gluttons for this kind of practice punishment.

Repeat practice exam time reminders

Just a quick blog reminder of the two times I have scheduled to give another real-world-condition (optional) practice exam experience:

• 3pm on Friday, Oct. 15 in Room 348
• 11am on Tuesday, October 19, in location to be determined

Confirming interest in practice test administration on Wednesday (10/6) at 11am

A few students have written via e-mail to confirm their interest in having me formally administer a practice test tomorrow, Wednesday, October 6 at 11am.  I am thus now planning to go to our usual room (Drinko Hall 348) a little before 11am to begin to simulate real exam-taking conditions for a one-hour practice exam. 

Please comment on the blog if you are thinking about coming for the experience (and/or if you would like we to administer the test at another time/place in the not-too-distant future).

Thanks. Hope all are having a great break!

Test yourself on mens rea issues using a question from my first exam

Below you will find the full text of one of the questions I asked students on the very first exam I gave the very first time I taught our class (way back in 1997):

Oliwood Criminal Code § 555.21. No person shall sell beer or any other intoxicating liquor to any person under 21 years of age. Violators of this statute, upon a first offense, shall be fined not more than $1000, and/or be required to do not more than 50 hours of community service.

Joseph Merchant, who operates a liquor store near the local university, has a reputation for selling alcohol to underage persons. Beau Younger, a large and mature looking 19-year-old student at Oliwood State, enters Merchant’s store seeking a bottle of rum. Based on Younger’s appearance, Merchant believes that Younger is in his mid 20s. But, knowing that the police are watching his every move, Merchant asks Younger for some identification. Younger reacts by shouting, “Damn, I’m 25 years old, and I’m sick and tired of getting carded. You just better give me the booze or else I may have to rough you and this joint up.” Not wanting any trouble, Merchant sells Younger the rum. The police find out Younger’s true age as he leave the store, and they arrest Merchant for violating Oliwood Criminal Code § 555.21.

Joseph Merchant has retained you to defend him. Prepare a brief memorandum discussing and assessing the issues you expect to raise in your defense of Mr. Merchant.

I do not plan to discuss this question in class, though I will be happy to do so if there is student interest in using class time to go over this question.

Good luck and good times...

Just a quick note from your crim prof wishing you good luck on your contracts mid-term. 

Also, I wanted to report that I will be in town on Monday and will happily treat for the first round of liquid refreshment for any class members who join me at Eddie George Grill after 1:30pm on Monday afternoon.

Practice exam feedback materials

I am posting here (finally!) the two promised documents to aid you in reviewing your own efforts on the practice exam. After reviewing these documents (which should be in Word-friendly formats), feel free to come talk to me in person about any questions or concerns.

Download key_issues_on_practice_exam.rtf

Download exam_tips_memo.rtf