Criminal Law
LAW 506 Section 61
Jonathan P. Witmer-Rich
Welcome to Criminal Law. This course focuses on the substance of the criminal law (like: what are the elements of murder, what is self-defense) and does not cover the procedural aspects of criminal law (like: when can the police search your car, or when you have a right to a lawyer).
The required book for this course is Joshua Dressler, Understanding Criminal Law (8th edition 2018). Make sure to get the Eighth Edition.
For the first day of class, please read the following:
1. In Dressler, read § 1.01
2. From the Ohio Revised Code, read §§ 2901.02, 2901.03, 2901.05(A), (E), and 2903.13(A), (B), (C)(1), (C)(5) and (C)(6). You can find the Ohio Revised Code online here: http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/
3. Listen to the first episode of the Serial Season 3 podcast, available at https://serialpodcast.org/
4. Read Owens v. State, 611 A.2d 1043 (Md. App. 1992). Find this case on Westlaw or Lexis.