Entry 15-01.30.30 in Book Two: The Fifteenth Year of the Third Millennium of the Common Era

If you guys are sick of reading about the bar exam… just imagine how sick I am of studying for it! Seriously… I’m going to need some wild, insane, alcohol-fueled kinky style vacation after all of this. HA! Like that would ever happen… a guy can dream, right?
Here’s a fun fact: I started studying today at 4 am :)
Criminal Law Video… 5 hours.
Torts Essay Practice… ugh, still need loads of work here. 2 Hours
Followed by Criminal Law Quiz Questions and the Check Point Quiz! 3 Hours
Check Point Quiz Score: 68%
Oh… oh my. I… I actually expected to do better but I suppose 68 isn’t bad.

Murgh. I’m getting to that point where I just want to not worry about this for a solid 36 hours but that isn’t reasonable. Even if I wasn’t being hard on myself… none of us (us being Bar Students) can afford to take an extended break right now… the bar exam is a competition and the first person to slack off helps set the low end of the curve. I can tell this whole process is starting to really get to the wife. My constant studying… the nest of books and papers I have in the living room… the battle between Study and Sleep. I can tell she just wants it all to be over so that all of my study materials aren’t “clutter” and so that I won’t be so preoccupied with this. Well… I know she sucks at thinking ahead (in a big way) but… honestly, better that I am like this right now than if I needed to take the Bar Exam for a third time! In this instance… better to calmly deal with the madness than to create a situation where the madness would need to be revisited.

(GOES CRAZY) GAH! I have to do something… I’m gonna jerk it, take a bath, take a shower, and go run errands just so I can do SOMETHING aside from studying today. Of course… those errands are (1) Pick up RX drugs; (2) Shift money to pay another 35k+ in student debt; and (3) purchase enough coffee to drown a toddler. Because… oh look, when I get back home I have tons and tons and tons more work to do. Hooray!

Took a good two hours for myself… I feel clean, refreshed, and now I have to get back into it… hopefully, since the wife will be home very soon… I can focus on working without her flipping shit. Cuz… yeah. I’m… really close to the perfect place where I need to be. Really close… and I’d just once, once, during this whole insane experience like to feel that I may be in a good position, even if only for a moment. So it is off to do… yikes. 34 Questions Criminal Law followed by 32 Questions Criminal Procedure. Yeah, it is my area but still… 66 questions can be quite the hill to climb.

Great, if frustrating, question from Crim Law… just to show how crazy things can be. The question involved a homeowner, asleep in his bed, who was stirred by the noise of someone breaking into his home. The homeowner stayed in bed, fearful of what may occur, and saw the silhouette of a figure pass by his door. The homeowner grabbed his gun and shot the intruder. I said: self-defense. I got it wrong, and here is the “brief” explanation they gave me (that I then had to transcribe into my notes)
Choice (C) is the best answer. The defendant would have the strongest case successfully alleging the defense of self-defense. The facts in choice (C) are sufficient to indicate that the defendant has a reasonable belief that he was in immediate danger of deadly force or serious bodily harm. It is immaterial that the defendant did not know that the victim’s gun was not loaded. As a general rule, one who is not the aggressor in an encounter is justified in using a reasonable amount of force against his adversary when he reasonably believes (a) that he is in immediate danger of unlawful bodily harm from his adversary and (b) that the use of such force is necessary to avoid this danger. The defendant not only had such a reasonable belief to justify the use of deadly force, but he also had no duty to retreat from his own home. Be aware of the problems involving the “duty to retreat” when deadly force is used in self-defense. The majority of jurisdiction hold that the defender (who was not the original aggressor) need not retreat, even though he may do so safely, before using deadly force upon an assailant whom he reasonably believes will kill him or do him serious bodily harm. However, even in the minority jurisdictions that require retreat, the defender (1) need not retreat unless he knows he can do so in complete safety, and (2) he need not retreat from his home or place of business. Choice (B) is not the best answer. Even though discovering an intruder in his home would reasonably instill fear, perhaps even fear that he is in imminent danger of unlawful bodily harm, the facts do not say that the victim was about to use deadly force against the defendant. Rather, the defendant saw the victim walking away from his room toward the door.

That just about wraps everything up. Videos and Quizzes and Essays oh my. And much much more tomorrow. Oh… Hell Week #1… I shall be happy when you are over :p

In the end… right now at least....even the most “GONNA MAKE IT” Little Engine That Could parts of my brain are like “DUDE… when’re we gonna be done?!” It just… I really feel like I am cracking up, going mad, losing my marbles, watching the cheese slide off my cracker as it were.

SO MONTAGE

Especially as today was dealing with intentional crimes, mens rea and defenses to murder charges: