Test Your Precognition!
by: Ryan • December 30, 2014 • no comments
And off we go. . . .
(1) The Court of Appeals will issue at least one opinion on the improper joinder demurrer in 2015, the first time in decades. The COA will: (A) Hold that the demurrer should be granted if it's not clear "on the face" of the indictment that the counts were properly joined.
(B) Hold that the demurrer should only be granted if the charges could never have been properly joined, regardless of whether they were properly joined under the facts in that particular case.
(C) Strictly limit application of the demurrer but expressly hold that if, when all the facts are considered, the counts are improperly joined, the defendant need not show substantial prejudice in order to sever, and that improper joinder, by itself, is a basis for reversal.
(2) In 2015, the Court of Appeals will, for the first time in decades, reverse convictions for failure of the trial judge to order the state to turn over the Grand Jury notes.
(A) True
(B) False
(3) In reviewing the proper mental state for the crime of unlawful use of a vehicle, the COA will:
(A) Decide "knowingly" applies, as the defendant argues, because the conduct at issue is "use without the consent of", and knowingly is the lowest possible mental state to apply to conduct.
(B) Decide "negligently" applies, because "without the consent of" is a circumstance and therefore the lowest possible mental state applies.
(C) Decide "recklessly" applies, because even though "without the consent of" is a circumstance, it does not really make sense to convict someone for being unaware of a substantial risk that a fact exists. It makes much more sense to be aware of and disregard a substantial risk that you don't have permission to drive.
(4) The Court of Appeals will decide that multiple images of child porn found during the execution of a single search arise out of the same criminal episode, regardless of when the porn was downloaded. As a result, even if the counts don't merge, the defendant's criminal history score is not reconstituted. (A) True
(B) False
(5) Speaking of child porn, and in view of the fact that the same porn people look at now will be looked at 100 years from now, the Court of Appeals will decide that:
(A) Only people who were still alive when the porn was downloaded or possessed can be victims, because there is a long-standing understanding that people who are already dead when a crime is committed cannot be victims of that crime.
(B) The legislature must have intended for victims of child porn to be victims throughout eternity, even if it never considered the issue, because child porn. This is even true for child porn that does not require any actual abuse, such as the teenage girl's nude selfie that's e-mailed to her boyfriend. A hundred years from now, she'd still be a victim when that picture is looked at for a sexual purpose.
