Criminal Law Capsule Summary

§ 13.01 General Principle

Generally speaking, a person may be acquitted of any offense except murder if the criminal act was committed under the following circumstances:

	1.)	Another person issued a specific threat to kill or grievously injure the defendant or a third party, particularly a near relative, unless he committed the offense;
	2.)	The defendant reasonably believed that the threat was genuine;
	3.)	The threat was "present, imminent, and impending" at the time of the criminal act;
	4.)	There was no reasonable escape from the threat except through compliance with the demands of the coercer; and
	5.)	The defendant was not at fault in exposing himself to the threat.

§ 13.02 Duress as a Defense to Homicide

The common law rule, expressly adopted by statute in some states, is that duress is not a defense to an intentional killing. A very few states recognize an "imperfect" duress defense, which reduces the offense to manslaughter. Courts are split on the availability of the duress defense in felony-murder prosecutions.

§ 13.03 Model Penal Code

Duress is an affirmative defense to unlawful conduct by the defendant if: (1) he was compelled to commit the offense by the use, or threatened use, of unlawful force by the coercer upon his or another person; and (2) a person of reasonable firmness in his situation would have been unable to resist the coercion. [MPC § 2.09(1)] The defense is unavailable if the defendant recklessly placed himself in a situation in which it was probable that he would be subjected to coercion. If he negligently placed himself in such a situation, however, the defense is available to him for all offenses except those for which negligence suffices to establish culpability. [MPC § 2.09(2)].

The Code’s duress defense is broader than the common law in various respects. First, it abandons the common law requirement that the defendant’s unlawful act be a response to an imminent deadly threat. Second, the defense is one of general applicability, so the defense may be raised in murder prosecutions.

The Code defense is similar to the common law in two significant ways. First, the defense is limited to threats or use of "unlawful" force; therefore, it does not apply to coercion emanating from natural sources. Second, in conformity with the common law, the Code does not recognize the defense when any interest other than bodily integrity is threatened.