Problem
I. A community has enacted a law that requires residents to separate their garbage into recyclables and non-recyclables. The recyclable items are placed in plastic containers marked "Property of the City of Ecology." The city collects the contents of the containers and sells it to a recycling facility, boosting the city budget by several hundred thousand dollars per year. Joe, a homeless man, makes the rounds on garbage collection day and selects metal cans from the recycling bins, which he crushes and sells to a recycling facility. He is arrested and charged with theft of city property. You have been asked to analyze the case on behalf of the public defender representing Joe. What is Joe's best defense to the theft charges?
II. A bookkeeper devises an elaborate scheme. She pays a contractor for work he doesn't perform in return for the contractor paying her a kickback. Is she guilty of embezzlement or theft? What about the contractor? What element distinguishes the two crimes?
III. A 25-year-old 6' 7" tall man weighing 250 pounds encounters an 80-year-old 5" tall 90-pound woman on a bus. He towers over her, looks at her, and says, "You don't mind if I take a few bills from your wallet, do you?" She stammers, "Uh, No." He takes $100 in cash. Has a robbery been committed? What if the man were her son instead of a total stranger?
IV. Jerry is separated from his wife and still owns a house jointly with her. She has changed the keys to the house, and Jerry breaks a window to enter the house and retrieve personal belongings. He is charged with burglary. How do you defend him? Is your answer different if he takes his wife's possessions rather than his own?
V. Mary has been thinking about remodeling her kitchen. She has contacted several contractors and has received several estimates. She has also applied for a home equity loan to finance the project but has been turned down because she does not have enough equity in the home to qualify. Saturday night she fries some chicken and leaves the deep fryer full of oil on in the kitchen. She leaves for a walk. When she returns, she finds the firefighters dowsing a fire in her kitchen. Although the rest of the structure is saved, the kitchen is a total loss. Insurance covers the rebuilding. If you are the local prosecutor, how would you go about putting together a case against Mary? What evidence would you seek, and how would you obtain it?
VI. What form of check fraud has occurred in each of the following factual scenarios?
i. Carla receives a birthday check from her grandmother and adds a "1" in front of the $10 and writes "One Hundred" in front of the Ten Dollars and no cents on the check.
ii. Sarah buys a copy of "Easy Check" software for her computer and uses the account number and bank routing number from her roommate's checks to print checks, which she then uses to pay her tuition bill.
iii. Jack finds a purse at a bus stop and takes a check from the checkbook he finds inside. He makes the check out to "cash" and signs the check with the account holder's name.
iv. Smitty, maintains two checking accounts at two banks. He will be paid on Friday and has no funds in either account on Wednesday. Wednesday, he writes a check for $100 to himself on account number one and deposits it in account number two. He then withdraws $100 from account number two. On Friday, he deposits his paycheck in account number one to cover the check.