Inchoate Offenses
Vic lives in Minnesota. One day, while driving from work to head for a party, he sees a car that has collided with a tree. He slows down but does not stop to check if the driver needs medical assistance. Consider the given scenario and discuss the following:
A) Analyze and explain whether Vic is guilty of any crime under Minnesota law? Explain why or why not.
In most states, it is not necessary for people to stop if they witness an accident, let alone if they drive past a car who has already been involved in an accident that occurred before you came on the scene. Minnesota has a statute called a Good Samaritan Law, which dictates that if a person does not stop to help an injured person then they can be subjected to a fine of other penalty. According to this law, "a person at the scene of an emergency who knows that another person is exposed to or has suffered grave physical harm shall, to the extent that the person can do so without danger or peril to self or others, give reasonable assistance to the exposed person" (Gilchrist 2001,-page 1). Due to this, if Vic was...
Nor would he be liable for the
death of the driver (Gilchrist 2001,-page 2).
Part II: Next, Vic picks up a friend, Ally, on the way for the party. Ally has marijuana in her purse, a fact Vic is unaware of. A
police officer stops Vic for reckless driving. The
police officer searches Josh's vehicle and discovers the marijuana in Ally's purse. Answer the below questions referring to this context.
A) Analyze and explain whether Vic can be charged with a crime even though he was unaware that Ally had marijuana with her. Why or why not?
In the state of Minnesota possession on a first offense is usually treated as a minor infraction and usually does not even go on your record, so long as the amount of marijuana is small (James 2013). In this instance, since it is Josh's vehicle but the marijuana is found in Ally's purse, then she would likely receive…
