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Criminal Law Keyed to Gershowitz
McCulloch v. Commonwealth
Citation:
29 Va. App. 769, 514 S.E.2d 797.Only StudyBuddy Pro offers the complete Case Brief Anatomy*
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*Case Brief Anatomy includes: Brief Prologue, Complete Case Brief, Brief Epilogue
- The Brief Prologue provides necessary case brief introductory information and includes:
- Topic: Identifies the topic of law and where this case fits within your course outline.
- Parties: Identifies the cast of characters involved in the case.
- Procedural Posture & History: Shares the case history with how lower courts have ruled on the matter.
- Case Key Terms, Acts, Doctrines, etc.: A case specific Legal Term Dictionary.
- Case Doctrines, Acts, Statutes, Amendments and Treatises: Identifies and Defines Legal Authority used in this case.
- The Case Brief is the complete case summarized and authored in the traditional Law School I.R.A.C. format. The Pro case brief includes:
- Brief Facts: A Synopsis of the Facts of the case.
- Rule of Law: Identifies the Legal Principle the Court used in deciding the case.
- Facts: What are the factual circumstances that gave rise to the civil or criminal case? What is the relationship of the Parties that are involved in the case. Review the Facts of this case here:
The defendant’s wife entered a grocery store bleeding from a stab wound. Just as she entered, two customers saw a man run past the front of the store. They chased him and saw him holding a knife. The two followed the man, who turned out to be the defendant, to his home. He admitted to them that he stabbed his wife.
The defendant filed an insanity defense motion. He was indigent, and the sent him to the Central State Hospital for the evaluation and a psychologist performed the evaluation. The doctor found him sane at the time of the offense.
On the day before the trial, the defendant moved for appointment of a psychiatrist to determine sanity. The trial court ruled that the psychologist had satisfied all legal requirements and that the defendant was not entitled to another court-appointed expert. The trial court found that the defendant offered no more than a possibility that a second opinion would reveal anything different. The trial court denied the motion but emphasized that it would reconsider its ruling at any time the defendant presented a factual basis indicating by more than a mere possibility that a second opinion would assist the defense. The trial court also did not permit the defendant to introduce lay witness testimony about his sanity at the time of the offense, including friends and jail inmates.
He was convicted of first degree murder. He appealed.
- Issue(s): Lists the Questions of Law that are raised by the Facts of the case.
- Holding: Shares the Court's answer to the legal questions raised in the issue.
- Concurring / Dissenting Opinions: Includes valuable concurring or dissenting opinions and their key points.
- Reasoning and Analysis: Identifies the chain of argument(s) which led the judges to rule as they did.
- The Brief Prologue closes the case brief with important forward-looking discussion and includes:
- Policy: Identifies the Policy if any that has been established by the case.
- Court Direction: Shares where the Court went from here for this case.
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