Common Law Mens Rea Self-Quiz
|     Because of a severe drought, 
        Valjean, local farmer, has not been able to produce any crops for three 
        straight seasons. Valjean and his family have depleted their own stores 
        of food and have no money with which to buy more. When Valjean’s 
        family begins to starve, he arms himself with a knife and goes out to 
        the main road. Valjean hides behind some bushes and waits for a pedestrian 
        to walk by. Soon, Javert, a wealthy businessman, comes by. Valjean jumps 
        from behind the bushes, holds the knife to Javert’s throat and demands 
        the money and valuables that Javert is carrying. Valjean takes what Javert 
        has, apologizes for having to do this and then disappears. If Valjean 
        is tried for robbing Javert, he will probably be: 
      
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|     Moe, Larry and Curley go 
        up to Moe's lodge for a weekend of hunting. After an afternoon spent chasing 
        deer, they get bored and decide to test their marksmanship. Moe, Larry 
        and Curley each agree to take turns putting an apple on their heads and 
        letting the other two try to shoot it off with a pistol. Moe puts the 
        apple on his head first and Curley takes the pistol, walks about fifteen 
        feet, turns and fires. Curley is not a very good shot and, instead of 
        hitting the apple, he accidentally shoots Moe between the eyes killing 
        him instantly. Since murder is a general intent crime, if the prosecution 
        wants to convict Curley for Moe's murder, he will have to prove: 
      
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|     Moe, Larry and Curley go 
        up to Moe’s lodge for a weekend of hunting. After an afternoon spent 
        chasing deer, they get bored and decide to test their marksmanship. Moe, 
        Larry and Curley each agree to take turns putting an apple on their heads 
        and letting the other two try to shoot it off with a pistol. Moe puts 
        the apple on his head first and Curley takes the pistol, walks about fifteen 
        feet, turns and fires. Curley is not a very good shot and, instead of 
        hitting the apple, he accidentally shoots Moe between the eyes killing 
        him instantly. Hypothetically, if murder is a specific intent crime and 
        the prosecution wants to convict Curley for Moe’s murder, he will 
        have to prove:  
      
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|     Moe, Larry and Curley go 
        up to Moe’s lodge for a weekend of hunting. After an afternoon spent 
        chasing deer, they get bored and decide to test their marksmanship. Moe, 
        Larry and Curley each agree to take turns putting an apple on their heads 
        and letting the other two try to shoot it off with a pistol. Moe puts 
        the apple on his head first and Curley takes the pistol, walks about fifteen 
        feet, turns and fires. Curley is not a very good shot and, instead of 
        hitting the apple, he accidentally shoots Moe between the eyes killing 
        him instantly. If the prosecution cannot prove that Curley intended to 
        fire the gun at Moe, Curley cannot be convicted of Moe’s murder: 
      
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|    The state legislature has 
        just passed a law making it a criminal offense for an adult male to engage 
        in sexual intercourse with a female under the age of eighteen. The law 
        clearly states that this is to be considered a strict liability crime. 
        One night, Brittany, a sixteen year old high school sophomore, uses a 
        fake identification to get into a bar where she meets Justin, a twenty-five 
        year old bartender. Brittany and Justin spend the night flirting and at 
        the end of Justin’s shift, they go back to his apartment and have 
        sex. Justin is charged with violating the state stature. If Justin can 
        prove that he had no idea Brittany was underage he can still be convicted 
        for violating the statute: 
      
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