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Criminal Law Keyed to Osler
Burrage v. United States
Citation:
571 U.S. 204 (2014)Facts
Victim, Joshua Banka, was a drug user who on the day in question smoked marijuana, stole and used oxycodone pills, and then purchased and used heroine from the defendant. His wife found him the next morning dead in the bathroom. In a search of the victim’s home and car after, officers found syringes, heroin, and at least four other drugs. Defendant was charged with selling Banka the heroin that resulted in his death.
There were two expert witnesses as trial, both contested that they could not argue that without ingesting the heroin, the defendant would not have died due to the other drugs that were in his system. However, they both testified that the heroin was a contributing factor to the victim’s death. The District Court’s jury instructions stated that the prosecution needed to prove that the heroin was a contributing cause of the victim’s death, against the defendant’s motion that but-for causation be the requirement in the jury instructions instead.
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