- [Narrator] Thanks to Dashlane, for keeping Legal Eagle in the air. - I'm gonna make this pencil disappear. Ta-da! - Cute magic trick, also
first degree murder. Hey Legal Eagles, it's time
to think like a lawyer. Welcome back to Laws Broken where an attorney destroys
your favorite childhood movies by showing you how illegal everything is. Because everything is illegal. This week we're going to
examine The Dark Knight and we're finally going
to answer the question, can Batman use the
self-defense justification? Can you trust me? - Do you trust him? - Of course you can trust
me, I'm an attorney. As most people know, the
Batman stories take place in the fictional city of Gotham, but as everyone recognizes, Gotham is just a stand in for New York
City and since I am licensed to practice in the state of New York, I'm going to be using New
York law for the most part to talk about the various
crimes of the Joker and Batman. So, be sure to subscribe and comment in the form of an objection which I'll either sustain or
overrule and stick around until the end of the video where I give a verdict for how long the Joker and Batman
are both going to jail. So, let's examine the evidence. (tense music) Alright so we have your standard, garden-variety breaking and entering and criminal trespass onto
the building of a bank. - Three of a kind, let's do this. - That's it, three guys? - Two guys on the roof,
every guy gets a share, five shares is plenty. - Six shares, don't forget
the guy who planned the job. - He thinks he can sit it out and still take a slice. I know why they call him the Joker. - Okay, so these bad guys
have helpfully explained that they are all engaged
in a criminal conspiracy to rob a bank. As members of a conspiracy, assuming that the Pinkerton Doctrine applies, all of the members of the
conspiracy including the Joker are on the hook for all
of the criminal acts of their co-conspirators. So, I'm going to impute all
of the bank robbers bad acts to the Joker himself. (general shouting) (woman screaming) - [Clown] I said stay down there. - That's funny, it didn't dial out to 911, it was trying to reach a private number. - Is there a problem? - No, I'm done here. - And that's just straight up murder but because all of these bank robbers are engaged in a conspiracy to conduct an inherently dangerous
crime, that's armed robbery, with guns, and bombs, and grenades, all of those co-conspirators
are likely on the hook for the murder of this person
under the felony murder rule. But on top of that, the felony murder rule would apply to any unintentional killings that occur during the course
of this armed robbery as well. - [Clown] Nobody make a
move, nobody, stay down! (gunshot) - Alright William Fichtner
bringing the heat. (gunshot) So, the bank manager comes
out with guns blazing. You might assume that
this is attempted murder because he's using a shotgun to try and kill the bank robbers, but it's likely that the justification of
self defense applies here and excuses his actions. We're gonna be talking a lot about the justification of
self defense in a moment but to give you a
preview, robbery is one of the enumerated categories of situations where you're allowed to use deadly force to protect against it. So, I think the bank manager
is probably justified in using deadly force to protect against the robbery of the Joker and his henchmen. (machine gun firing) And because the Joker is not justified in using deadly force, that's just plain old attempted murder. - Boss told me when the guy was
done, I should take him out. One less share, right. - Funny, he told me something similar. - What? No, no, no! - More murder. - [Clown] I'm bettin' the
Joker told you to kill me soon as we loaded the cash. - No, no, no, no, I kill the bus driver. - Bus driver? What bus driver? - Obviously this is
some type of murder here but what's going on? Well, the Joker knew that
bus was going to break through the wall at a certain time. So one might argue that
because he didn't intentionally pull a trigger and shoot a gun, that he's not liable
for first degree murder. The problem is that because he knew this was going to happen
and moved out of the way and forced the guy into
the path of the bus, that is a mental state we call knowingly which generally carries with
it exactly the same kind of penalty that you would
have when you intentionally do an act that results in someone's death. So, in this case, even
though the Joker didn't pull the trigger, he knowingly engaged in actions that would lead to the death of his co-conspirator
which would qualify as at least second degree murder,
if not first degree murder. - That's a lot of money. What happened to the rest of the guys? (machine gun fires) - And that's just your garden
variety form of murder. - [Bank Manager] Look at you. What do you believe in, huh? What do you believe in? - [Joker] I believe,
whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you stranger. - So the Joker made physical
contact with the bank manager there which technically
qualifies as assault and because he used a smoke bomb instead of an actual incendiary grenade, I think that would probably qualify as intentional infliction
of emotional distress, even though the man was
not physically harmed in the explosion from a grenade. (glass shattering) Destruction of property. - Don't let me find you out here again. - We're trying to help you. - I don't need help! - Not my diagnosis. - What gives you the right? What's the difference between you and me? - Not much. Is Batman justified in using self-defense and patrolling the streets of Gotham? Well, let's think like a lawyer. (intense rock music) The state of New York
recognizes self-defense as a justification for
using physical force in the defense of different people. Whether it applies is complicated. Now, the rules of using physical force and deadly physical force are different. Generally speaking, you're allowed to use physical force in self defense if you believe it is reasonably necessary to defend yourself or
a third person against the imminent use of
unlawful physical force. Of course, there are exceptions to that. You are not justified
in using physical force when your conduct is the
one that provoked the actor who is going to use
physical force against you. You can't use physical force if you were the initial aggressor
unless you have clearly withdrawn from the
encounter and communicated that you have withdrawn
and the second person has continued to attack you. Now, the rules of using
deadly force are even more strict than using
just physical force. You are not allowed to use deadly force unless you reasonably believe
that the other aggressor is in fact going to use
deadly force against you and that is your option to prevent it being used against yourself. But even there, if you
have the opportunity to avoid the situation
entirely and retreat to safety, you have an obligation to do so before engaging in deadly force. However, you don't have a
duty to withdraw if you are, one, in your own home
or two, you reasonably believe that another person
is attempting to commit a burglary or you believe that
the aggressive third party who is bout to use deadly force is going to commit a kidnapping, a forcible rape, a forcible criminal sexual
assault, or a robbery. Under those specific
enumerated situations, you don't have a duty to retreat. How do we deal with Batman? I'm Batman. Well, number one, I don't think Batman is ever using regular physical force. He has been trained as basically a ninja. While he has a code that says
he shouldn't kill someone, he has the kind of training that makes his actions, I think,
deadly and, even though he doesn't try to kill
people, I think it's clear that people die when he gets involved. We can disagree about whether
his acts are on balance good for the city but
the fact of the matter is they are illegal, at
least under New York law. New York law does not
look kindly on vigilantes. You can't just interject
yourself into crime and pretend to be police. It just doesn't work that way. He would likely be on the hook as guilty for all of the hundreds of
acts of physical assault that he has committed again
the criminals of Gotham. (slamming noise) - [Joker] I'm gonna make
this pencil disappear. Ta-da! - Cute magic trick, also
first degree murder. - Enough from the clown! - (tuts smugly) Let's not
blow this out of proportion. - Alright, threatening everyone with a jacket full of grenades. That's what we call a true threat. Sometimes you run into
first amendment issues and whether you're allowed to
say things to certain people. That's clearly not allowed
here where you have what are presumably real grenades and threatening people with them. - Why so serious? - Alright, so there's some regular murder. - [Joker] Now, our operation is small but there is a lot of potential
for aggressive expansion so which of you fine gentlemen
would like to join our team? Oh, there's only one spot open right now so we're gonna have tryouts. - Arguably you could say
that those people engaged in physical violence because
of the duress from the Joker so I think the Joker's
probably on the hook for two more counts of homicide. (tense music) I'm not sure what the
equivalent of the FAA would be in Hong Kong but you're not allowed to go gliding around a city like that. That would be a violation
of airspace, at least in New York City, I'm
assuming Hong Kong probably has a similar thing. So when people go base
jumping off of buildings, totally illegal, reckless endangerment and some sort of
violation of aviation law. (shouting in foreign language) And there Batman just
straight up kidnaps Lao, whatever the Hong Kong
equivalent of kidnapping, I think that's probably what
that man just engaged in. (tense music) Batman drops off Lao to Lieutenant Gordon. So the question is, can the police actually use evidence
that they get from Lao because Batman illegally kidnapped him from an international country? Well, there is a doctrine that applies to governments that says, if the evidence is wrongfully obtained and you use that wrongfully
obtained evidence to find more evidence down the line, that's called the fruit
of the poisonous tree and often that is excluded at trial. But the thing is, Batman
is not a police officer. Batman is a private party. So, while Batman may be liable and almost certainly is liable for the use of deadly force and
for illegal kidnapping, the fruit of the poisonous
tree doctrine doesn't apply because the police here were blameless. - 'Cause they get anything on you and those criminals are
back on the streets, followed swiftly by you and me. - Alright, another act
of murder by the Joker. Killing the Batman-like vigilante. - You see, this is how
crazy Batman's made Gotham. You want order in Gotham,
the Batman must take off his mask and turn himself in. Oh, and every day he
doesn't, people will die. Starting tonight, I'm a man of my word. (maniacal laughter) - Alright, so the Joker
there not only is he engaging in assault and homicide against this vigilante Batman wannabe,
but he's also engaging in a terroristic threat
against the government and people of Gotham itself. Under New York penal code section 490, a person is guilty of
terrorism when they intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a unit of
government by intimidation or coercion, or affect the
conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination,
kidnapping, et cetera. Here the Joker is engaging in all of that. He's tryin' to get the
police to stop working. He's trying to get Batman
to stop chasing him and he is trying to terrorize
the entire civilian population into disclosing the identity of Batman and to turn against Batman. So, I think that is a
classic case of terrorism, of mass terror, and making
a terroristic threat. (tense music) Alright, murder of the judge. Murder of the police chief. (tense music) - [Batman] They've come for him. - [Joker] We made it. - [Batman] Stay hidden. - And technically, Bruce Wayne has engaged in kidnapping of Harvey
Dent by taking Harvey Dent away from the party against his will. - Got a little fight in you, I like that. - [Batman] Then you're gonna love me. (grunting) (shouting) - Again, because Batman doesn't
have these justifications of self defense, he is not legally allowed to commit these acts
of assault and battery even against the Joker's henchmen here. He had a duty to withdraw. Because he didn't, he's
likely guilty of several dozen counts of battery. - Drop the gun. - Sure, you just take off your little mask and show us all who you really are. - Okay, here we have a
clear loitering violation in addition to the normal things that constitute loitering,
a person loiters when he or she is masked or
disguised in an unnatural way or attire and remains
or congregates in public so clearly Batman is violating
the loitering statute here. - Let her go. - Very poor choice of words. (tense music) (woman screaming) - I still don't fully understand how Batman and Rachel survived that fall but nonetheless, still an
attempted murder by the Joker. And I think that probably
constitutes the unpermitted use of indoor pyrotechnics or firearms which is a class E felony in New York. Even for the purposes of
wannabe detective work. (glass shattering) (tense music) (grunting) - And obviously Batman's
gonna beat the crap out of some of these bodyguards, still counts as breaking and entering. Even though Lao's guards
are using deadly force against Batman, that probably
doesn't give him justification for him to use deadly force or close to deadly force against them. He has a duty to withdraw,
not breaking into the building for the purpose of arresting these people. - I want the Joker. - From one professional to another, if you're trying to scare
somebody, pick a better spot. From this height, fall wouldn't kill me. - I'm counting on it. (male scream) - Yeah, ouch. - [Batman] Where is he? - I don't know where he is. - Alright, so obviously Batman is engaging in assault and battery
against this mobster. New York does not have a specific offense called torture, that would
just simply fall under the regular rubric of battery and assault and it would simply be enhanced based on all of the
factors that went into it, Batman's ferocity with
which he beat the crap outta this mobster for the
purpose of information. California, on the other hand, does have a specific crime called torture which is found when an individual inflicts great bodily injury with
the intent to cause cruel or extreme pain for the
purposes of revenge, extortion, persuasion, or sadism. So, the end result here
would be, probably exactly the same I just find it
particularly interesting that one state has an actual
offense called torture while New York does not. (horns blaring) - The hell was that? (gunshots) - Alright, using cars and
trucks as a deadly weapon clearly qualifies as
aggravated vehicular assault and attempted aggravated
vehicular homicide. When you attack a police
officer, it almost always enhances the crime which carries with it a very, very severe penalty. (whirring) (explosions booming) Alright, Batman is driving
his Batcycle around Gotham destroying lots of different cars, probably guilty of reckless
endangerment of property. Someone who's guilty of reckless
endangerment of property when they engage in reckless
conduct which creates a substantial risk to damaging
the property of other people. Here Batman is driving a
motorcycle which is not licensed, which is in no way street legal and is just destroying
cars left and right. (phone trilling) - Is that a phone? (explosion booming) - Alright, so, in addition
to all of the dozens or so aggravated murders that the Joker has just done by killing a
bunch of police officers, he has also engaged in a
violation of section 195 of the penal code which is to
obstruct a government function by use of a bomb. There is a specific
provision that prevents you from using or threatening to use a bomb against the government. It definitely applies there. - [Joker] If Coleman Reese
isn't dead in 60 minutes, then I blow up a hospital. - So, in addition to aiding and abetting the homicide of this person
who's going to demask batman, it also probably qualifies
as criminal anarchy and inciting to riot under section 240 of the New York penal code. The Joker is just trying
to create pandemonium and there are rules against
doing that, not surprisingly. - Beautiful. Unethical. Dangerous. You've turned every cell phone
in Gotham into a microphone. - [Batman] And a high
frequency generator receiver. - You took my sonar concept, and applied it to every phone in the city. With half the city feeding you sonar, you can image all of Gotham. This is wrong. - Alright, Lucius Fox is 100% right that everything Batman is
doing here is inappropriate, constitutes a number of
different computer crimes under section 156 of
the New York penal code including the unauthorized
use of a computer, computer trespass, computer tampering, wiretapping, invasion of privacy. There is really no end to how illegal this particular tactic of Batman is. Basically by hacking everyone's phones, he just engaged in 30 million different felony computer crimes. - [Joker] At midnight, I blow you all up. If, however, one of
you presses the button, I'll let that boat live. So, who's it gonna be. Harvey Dent's most
wanted scumbag collection or the sweet and innocent civilians? You choose. - Alright, so obviously
this probably constitutes a number of attempted
homicides but I think it also probably constitutes rioting
or incitement to riot under section 240 of
the New York penal code. (jazzy upbeat music) Alright, that's The Dark knight. Batman and the Joker giving each other a run for their money in
terms of who can commit the most number of crimes. But now it's time for a verdict. How long are they going to jail? We'll start with the Joker. There are a lot of crimes. So many crimes. Murder, murder, straight
up murder, murder. I won't beat a dead
horse, but murder, murder. - Why so serious? - There's so many crimes
I'm going to have to combine different crimes into buckets here. In the assault bucket which includes aggravated vehicular assault, the Joker engaged in
approximately 65 counts, each carrying a penalty of
three to 15 years in prison. Given the violence and
severity of the crimes, I'll assume that he would get
the maximum sentence for each for a total of 975 years. Now, given all the people on the ferries, the Joker committed
approximately 400 counts of attempted murder at 25 years each, that's 10,000 years in jail. Five counts of terrorism
and criminal anarchy for 125 years in jail. 35 counts of first degree
felony and aggravated murder for 35 life sentences. So, if all of these
sentences ran concurrently, the Joker would serve
approximately 35 life sentences and 12,000 years in jail. - I want my phone call (clanking metal bars) - Now let's talk about Batman. Assuming self defense doesn't apply, which it probably doesn't, and assuming the sentences run
concurrently, Batman assaulted approximately 50 henchmen, bodyguards and regular people for
conservatively 150 years in jail. Destruction of property,
kidnapping, and torture for approximately 45 years in jail and of course 30 million counts of computer trespass and tampering and wire tapping for roughly
60 million years in jail. Huh, that is a long time in Arkham. - You either die a hero
or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. - I know Batman is supposed
to be the good guy, but I was really creeped out when he hacked everyone's phones. - Unethical. Dangerous. - The people of Gotham really
could've used Dashlane, Dashlane protects your
identity across the internet by providing a tool that
generates strong passwords, stores and autofills them
securely everywhere on the internet, seamlessly
across all of your devices. Even across laptops and
mobile devices running different operating systems
and different browsers so even Batman can't steal your password. - I'm considering it. - It's also a VPN which
acts as an intermediary to make sure that all
of your internet traffic is encrypted, even when
you're on public WiFi. Try Dashlane free for 30
days at the link below. Legal Eagles will get 10%
off of Dashlane premium by using the promo code at checkout. So, click on the link and prevent hacks because the Batmans and Jokers
of the world are out there. - You're garbage. - Do you agree? Leave your objections in the comments and check out this playlist I put together that includes all of my
other laws broken videos. So, click on the playlist
and I'll see you in court.
Those harcore and serious talks about the real-world complications of my capeshit almost get me hard! Thanks for the share! Love it!