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Criminal Law
I will post each week's assignments, usually on Thursday afternoon following the week's work. For those who want to prepare in advance, you can a "rough guide" and proposed schedule of readings for the course on the course website. (I cannot promise that we will follow the proposed schedule exactly; deviations are inevitable, but I do not envision any major changes.) It is impossible to predict how each class discussion will proceed and it would be an act of folly to attempt to rigidly follow the proposed schedule. I reserve the right to make still further adjustments and changes, including the deletion of and addition of specific cases, and to restructure proposed assignments as I deem necessary and prudent. You are advised to check the assignments page on Monday morning before the Tuesday class, and Wednesday prior to the Thursday class, to see if there are late changes in the posted assignment. If there are changes in the assignment, I will designate them as follows:
The essay final examinations given from 2002 to 2006 are available online: [Criminal Law Final Examination-2002] [Criminal Law Final Examination-2003] [Criminal Law Examination-2004] [Criminal Law Examination-2005] [Criminal Law Final Examination-2006] I do not mean to suggest or imply, in the posting of these old examinations, that examination questions in 2007 will be patterned on these exams. However, you may well find them the exams of value, not only as you prepare for the final exam but for guidance as to the relationship between what we do in class and what you are being asked to learn and how you are encouraged to learn it.
If you are not, for an excusable reason, prepared to discuss the assigned materials and want to avoid the embarrassment of being called on, please let me know before class.
After each class, I will move the completed assignment to an Assignments Archives. The archive will reflect what we have covered in class and when it was discussed. I am providing you, with this sylllabus, and as part of the course website, a "working" outline of the materials we will cover in the course. While it is my goal to discuss every assigned case thoroughly, I do not run the class like the Swiss train system; things don't always go as planned. Some cases may get more thorough-going treatment than others.
I will generally be available prior to and after class meetings on Tuesday and Thursday. My office is located in room # 110. If you find that I am not in my office when you want to meet with me, please contact me by email and we'll find a mutually agreeable time to meet. (I will also be available, generally, on Wednesday (12-2 pm). You are welcome to contact me by email at any time. Barring unforeseen circumstances, your email will receive a prompt response. If you have concerns about the course, course website, course assignments, my teaching of the course, how to learn criminal law, how to take a final examination, or life in general, you are welcome to talk with me.
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Course Textbook: Joshua Dressler, Cases and Materials on Criminal
Law (St. Paul, Minnesota: West Group, American Casebook Series,
4th ed., 2007). You will also be assigned West Virginia cases and jury instructions. All of the West Virginia cases are available on-line. (The citations to West Virginia cases are provided so you can use the free-printing services of WestLaw and Lexis-Nexis.) 
Recommended Study Guide: Joshua Dressler, Understanding Criminal Law (4th ed., 2006) [If you happen to have or find an earlier edition of Dressler's Understanding Criminal Law, I see no reason why it will not serve as a reliable study guide.] [Other criminal law study guides are available. I do not use them, or know anything about them.]
I sometimes find interesting or valuable materials as I prepare for class and I add links to these materials the evening before or even the morning of the class. 
