Crime scene getaway
A crime scene getaway is the act of fleeing the location where one has broken the law. It is an act that the offender(s) may or may not have planned in detail, resulting in a variety of outcomes. A :crime scene is the "location of a crime; especially one at which forensic evidence is collected in a controlled manner." The "getaway" is any escape by a perpetrator from that scene, which may have been witnessed by eyewitnesses or law enforcement. The crime scene getaway is the subject of several penal laws. A perpetrator can escape a crime  scene by running, riding a horse, riding a bicycle, riding a motorcycle, driving a getaway car, or riding with a getaway driver, among other methods. If motor vehicles are used for the getaway, then each vehicle is a new crime scene. As an inchoate offense. In some jurisdictions, the very act of making a getaway from a crime scene is an inchoate criminal offense in itself, though it is generally viewed as natural behavior for a lawbreaker. For example, under New York law, "escape" is defined as escaping custody or detention; "unlawful fleeing a police in a motor vehicle" is  a distinct crime. Methods of crime scene getaways. Running. Traditionally, for thousands of years, the standard method of escape from a crime scene was for the perpetrator merely to run away, faster than the constable on patrol, sheriff, or the night watchman. This was common even into the 20th century. For example, according to the Warren Commission report, Lee Harvey Oswald infamously walked, then ran away from the Texas Book Depository from where he shot President Kennedy on November 22, 1963. If another means of transportation becomes unavailable, the suspect may have to run. Horseback. Once humans domesticated horses, that  animal became a favorite way to escape a crime scene. Jesse James and many old "Wild West" bank robbers and train robbers of the 19th century used horses to get away from the scene of their larceny. The etymology of two common terms for peace officers in premodern times indicates that their major role may have been to prevent horse theft—or escape by horse. These are constable (from the Latin "comes stabuli" -- attendant to the stables), and marshall, a loanword from Old Norman French, which in turn is borrowed from Old Frankish *"marhskalk" "stable boy, keeper, servant", cognate with  Germanic "*marha-" "horse" (cf. Engl. "mare") and "skalk-" "servant" (cf. Old Engl. "scealc" "servant, soldier"). Vehicle. A motor vehicle, commonly referred to as a getaway car, is frequently used by the offender to flee the scene of a crime. Getaway cars are prevalent in major crimes such as bank robberies and homicides. Very frequently, but not always, a getaway car is stolen and is abandoned soon after the crime, in the hope that the vehicle cannot be traced to the offender. If the vehicle does not belong to the driver and is quickly abandoned, a trace may not be  possible without examination of forensic evidence. In some cases, the offender may go to extreme measures to discard the getaway vehicle in order to hide his 'tracks' by dumping it in a river or secluded park, and/or setting it on fire; while this may not make solving the crime impossible, it can make the effort more difficult for law enforcement. The criminal investigation can be further complicated by the use of multiple getaway vehicles, which can confuse eyewitnesses, as well as creating multiple places to investigate: each vehicle is a new crime scene. In "Forensics for Dummies", the rookie is  reminded: "At a minimum, the crime scene includes ... Areas from which the site can be entered, exited, or even escaped..." Since a getaway vehicle often requires a getaway driver, this additional co-defendant creates problems in itself. First, having a second perpetrator involved creates yet another inchoate offence that the prosecutor can use in an indictment: conspiracy. Also, a co-conspirator may cooperate with police, either intentionally by 'turning state's evidence' by way of a plea bargain, or inadvertently by giving away information to persons outside the conspiracy. If the driver, who may have parked some distance away, unknowingly  drives past the scene of the crime, the getaway vehicle itself may identify the occupants to the crime victim and police. This is especially true if the vehicle has unique markings or is an unusual model. Without a driver, the perpetrator may make errors due to the stress associated with the crime, or lack of ability to multi-task (such as leaving the car keys at the scene of the crime); a murderer needs to "think strategically" to get away with murder—to "mislead police, stage crime scenes and destroy evidence." Taking a public bus or taxicab makes the driver  an involuntary co-conspirator, yet also creates an eyewitness whose interest it is to cooperate with police. Witnesses to the crime will often attempt to take note of the tags (registration plate) or other important details of the car and report this information to law enforcement. It may be possible to identify the offender if an officer spots the offender in possession of the vehicle prior to its abandonment. In one news story: The earliest robbers known to have made such use of an automobile were the anarchist-inspired Bonnot Gang, active in Paris of the early 1910s. Later, the  method was used by John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde, whose exploits got wide media attention and inspired many less-known robbers. Rebuttal of the insanity defense. Under the M'Naghten rules for the insanity defense, the defendant must be not only mentally ill ("suffering from a mental disease or defect" is a typical formulation) but also unable to tell right from wrong. If the defendant runs away from the crime scene, there must thus be an awareness that the crime is wrong and so a jury would, under such factual circumstances, deny that defense. "Clark v. Arizona" ruled that the  defense is not a right and that its scope is limited by whether the defendant knew right from wrong.