Z is the leader of a prison gang. He is afraid that Y, the leader of another gang in the same

[yorrickchotoo]

Z is the leader of a prison gang. He is afraid that Y, the leader of another gang in the same
prison, will try to kill him.

He instructs X, a young and timid man who shares a room with Y, to
stab Y with a knife while he (Y) is asleep.

Z threatens X that he will make sure that X will be
killed if he (X) does not obey his orders.

X, who is terrified of Z, takes drugs so that he can
build up the courage to execute the order.

In his drunken state, he stabs and kills Y. X is
charged with the murder of Y.

You are X’s legal representative. Discuss which defence you will invoke to ensure a complete
acquittal of X.

[jackthehat]

Surely your course tutor will have given you sufficient pointers to work this out for yourself ?

[bednobs]

i am legal representative? Wow, thats a promotion from working in the NHS!
How much am i getting paid for this fab job?

[sandyRoe]

What sort of a prison is this? There are knives, drugs, and drink available.
X won't be acquitted. Duress is rarely accepted as a defence.

[Arksided]

I'd be in S-Club so no justification what-so-ever of X

[snags]

I'd blame C U N and T personally...

[fredpuli47]

You're being asked 1) about drunkenness or drugging being a defence. You can surely find out from your books and work whether they are and whether voluntary intake makes a difference
2) ditto duress and the standard that has to be met for it to succeed and whether the weakness of X makes any difference.

We're not going to write the essay for you !

[Arksided]

If... 'Alphabeti Spaghetti goes bad... ' then you open some beans...

[R1Geezer]

The answer is very simple: Who cares about criminal scum who have opted out of society? let them kill each othert at will, does us all a favour.

[mike11111]

Although it is many years since I studied criminal law, the two defences which spring to mind are duress and intoxication. I believe that duress is no defence to murder and intoxication, being voluntary, is unlikely to succeed. Can't see an acquittal here.

[fredpuli47]

Damn mike, we're helping! LOL.. Duress in murder? See R v Howe [1987] A.C. 417 HL. (and cases there cited) Intoxication etc? See DPP v Majewski [1977] A.C. 443 HL (and cases there cited)
If yorrick can't find those or doesn't understand the case references, there's no helping him or her.Those cases will lead to others but all are certain to be in any current textbook.