Is there a defense that involves financial hardship or robbery to provide for the family?
What if the person who committed the robbery had worked for the same company for many years and was laid off? Since the layoff, the person has looked for a job with no luck and it has been several months since they received any income.
The Law
Favorite Answer
The only affirmative defense to armed robbery is duress. All criminal statues have affirmative defenses that have been recognized in past cases, as affirmative defenses, recognized by a court, and passed on legally by the concept of starre decises (let the decision stand). Having said that, the only situation I could see that would merit a defense, would be a case in which someone convinces you that you will be killed or your family members would be killed, if you refuse to commit the robbery. This would be a hard defense to prove without evidence of the duress, such as witnesses that can attest to the duress you were under. I am not even sure there has been one case yet, in which a person was successful at proving duress. There is no other viable defense that I can think of. It is not a defense that your were poor, or in desperate need of money. This comes down to a decision to act or not act, and the one defense I provided, could easily be challenged by the prosecutor, by proving that the actor had the ability to contact police for help before committing the robbery.
Lynne
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Robbery Defenses
Zach
The best criminal defense for armed robbery if you know you did it and the evidence shows you did it is to make a plea deal. There is no defense for armed robbery beyond why you are innocent and you can't say financial hardship or providing for the family... otherwise everyone would use that excuse and get away with it.
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The best defense would be something like "I'm insane", "It's wasn't me" or "Someone put a gun on my head and made me do it." Besides those all other claims MIGHT be taken in consideration to decide how severe or lenient would be the punishment, but they wouldn't be enough to get the charges dropped.
It's true that there is a legal defense called "State of Necessity" but you would need to prove an EXTREME situation were you have absolutely no other alternative than breaking the law.
For example:
You been in the desert for three days, no water, no food, in the middle of the desert you find a guy selling water, you have no money, the guy refuse to help you, give you credit or any kind of deal, he just want cash, you know that's a death sentence for you, by law (in theory) you could kill the guy, steal the water, and claim "State of Necessity" and not go to jail; but again: you would need to prove you tried all the legal options before taking the drastic step of killing the guy, and still there is the possibility of the DA and jury no buying your story.
Now back to your example, the armed robber would have a very hard time proving "State of Necessity" because he had many other options like charity, salvation army, food stamps, family & friends, the local church, and many other option that are available for people that "really" are in serious need of help.