Legal+Defenses_home

Legal Defenses

Using the links to the relevant Massachusetts Criminal Model Jury Instructions, answer the questions below. You should type your responses in complete sentences and shared them with me in Google Docs.

[|Entrapment]

1. Pursuant to Massachusetts law, when does entrapment occur? 2. What is the purpose of the entrapment defense? 3. When are certain "traps" or undercover operations permissible? 4. Which party has the burden of proof? What is the burden of proof when entrapment is asserted as a defense? 5. Is solicitation by a government agent sufficient to establish entrapment?

[|Insanity]

1. What is the Commonwealth's burden if the defendant claims he/she lacks criminal responsibility at the time an offense was committed? 2. A person may be determined to lack criminal responsibility if he/she has a mental disease or defect and further that what occurred as a result of that disease of defect? 3. What evidence is a jury required to weigh most heavily?

[|Necessity or Duress]

1. What is the rationale for the necessity defense? 2. Which party has the burden of proof? What is the burden of proof when necessity is asserted as a defense? 3. What are the three factors that must be present for the rule of necessity to apply? 4. According to Massachusetts case law, what is the fourth element of the necessity defense? 5. What is the purpose behind the duress defense? 6. What three factors must be present to claim the defense of duress? 7. When is a defendant prohibited from claiming the defense of duress?