Criminal Law Case Briefs

Criminal Law Case Briefs Assignment
Students must write and submit a case brief to the school for each case listed below. Any cases not covered in the casebook may be located in books at a local law library or online at LexisNexis. If a student can’t find a required case, a different case on the same topic from the casebook may be used for preparation of a written case brief.
Note that students are required to read the cases in their casebook, then write their own briefs. Submitting an already-written brief from Casenote Legal Briefs books, online sites, such as casenotes.com, quimbee, lawnix, etc., or even from LexisNexis, is not allowed. Presenting such briefs as if they are one’s own is plagiarism, and will result in a grade of “Fail.” Again, students must read the actual cases, then write their own briefs.
The case briefs are graded as “Pass” or “Fail” only. The most common reason students fail the case briefs assignment is plagiarism. Therefore, students should take care to use quotation marks when quoting from the original case decision, and they should use their own words for all other parts of the briefs.
Students who need help in learning to write a case brief should read the article, Why and How to Write a Case Brief.
Students must submit all case briefs together, so students must complete the assignment for each course in which they are enrolled for the term, then submit them all at once. We recommend completing the case briefs for all courses and submitting them during the 5th to 7th month of study. Most students find it easiest to brief each required case as they come across it in their reading of the case book. Then, when they finish reading the book, they will also have finished the case briefs.
All the case briefs for the course must be in one document, with each separate case brief starting on a new page of the document. That is, students submit one document for Criminal Law Case Briefs; they do not submit ten separate documents with one case brief on each.
Note that in order to be eligible to request final exams, students must have submitted case briefs, and must receive a grade of “Pass.”
When students complete and pass the criminal law case briefs assignment, they receive credit for seven hours of verified academic engagement.
Why and How to Brief a Case, including a sample case brief of Lucy v. Zehmer
List of Required Cases for the Criminal Law Case Briefs Assignment:
State v. Rocker, 52 Haw. 336, 475 P.2d 684 (1970). (Intent)
United States v. Jewell, 532 F.2d 697 (9th Cir. 1976). (Knowledge)
County Court of Ulster County, N.Y. v. Allen, 442 U.S. 140, 99 S.Ct. 2213, 60 L.Ed.2d 777 (1979). (Possession)
Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 95 S.Ct. 1881, 44 L.Ed.2d 508 (1975). (Heat of Passion Test)
Hyam v. Director of Public Prosecutions, 2 All.E.R. 41, A.C. 55, 2 W.L.R. 607 (1975). (Murder)
State v. Goodseal, 220 Kan. 487, 553 P.2d 279 (Kansas 1976). (Felony Murder)
Daniel M'Naghten's Case, 8 Eng. Rep. 718, 10 Cl.&Fin. 200 (1843). (Insanity)
United States v. Peterson, 483 F.2d 1222, 157 U.S.App.D.C. 219 (D.C.Cir. 1973). (Self Defense)
State v. Thompson, 243 Mont. 28, 792 P.2d 1103 (1990) (Statutory Definitions)
United States v. Brown, 518 F.2d 821 (1975). (Deliberate & Premeditated)