Criminal Law
Exam 25
Fact pattern
One night, over pizza and beer, A, B, and C discuss their financial situations. All are in a large amount of debt. As the night unwinds, C suggests that they start up a business trafficking cocaine between Mexico and the United States, via a land route, and transport six shipments over several months. A and B agree.
While transporting the sixth shipment from Mexico to the United States, A, B, and C agree to rob a bank in California on the same trip. They pull the heist off and drive away with stolen money in the truck they were using to smuggle drugs.
The three take stock of their cocaine, and then agree to sell it to a guy they know from work, D, under the assumption that D can move several hundred kilos of cocaine. They then decide to start trafficking methamphetamine between Mexico and the United States, over the same land route they used for transporting cocaine.
A, B, and C are eventually arrested and charged with various crimes. Assume the prosecution can prove the above facts at trial. Assume further that the prosecution can establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that A, B, and C conspired to commit the following crimes: (1) smuggling of cocaine; (2) bank robbery; (3) sale of cocaine to D; and (4) smuggling of methamphetamine. Assume also that the merger rule does not apply, so that the conspiracies stand separately from the substantive crimes.
Question
How many counts of conspiracy are A, B, and C liable for under (1) the common-law approach (also called the Braverman approach) and (2) the Model Penal Code (MPC) approach? Explain, analyzing each approach separately, but do not consider any other issue that may be raised by the problem.How many counts of conspiracy are A, B, and C liable for under (1) the common-law approach (also called the Braverman approach) and (2) the Model Penal Code (MPC) approach? Explain, analyzing each approach separately, but do not consider any other issue that may be raised by the problem.