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Criminal Law Keyed to Kennedy
People v. Ryan
Citation:
626 N.E.2d 51 (1993)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:
On October 2nd, 1990 the defendant asked his friend to order and receive a shipment of hallucinogenic mushrooms on his behalf. Tipped off to the transaction, on October 5th, the police located the package at a Federal Express warehouse. The package was opened and resealed after its contents were verified. The investigator then borrowed a Federal Express uniform and van and delivered the package to the defendant’s friend, the addressee, who was arrested upon signing for it.
The friend explained that the package was for defendant and agreed to participate in a supervised delivery to him. In a telephone call recorded by the police, the friend notified defendant that he got the package, reporting a “shit load of mushrooms in there.” Defendant responded, “I know, don’t say nothing.” The men agreed to meet later that evening at the firehouse in West Oneonta.
At the meeting, moments after taking possession, defendant was arrested and charged with violating Penal Law § 220.18 (5). The case proceeded to trial, where the police chemist testified that the total weight of the mushrooms in the package was 932.8 grams (about two pounds), and that a 140-gram sample of the package contents contained 796 milligrams of psilocybin, a hallucinogen.
He was convicted. The defendant argued that there was insufficient proof that he knew the level of psilocybin in the mushrooms as the statute stated.
- Issue(s): Lists the Questions of Law that are raised by the Facts of the case.
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- 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.