Defense of Necessity
An accused raises the defense of necessity when he or she alleges that the alleged act was carried out due to exceptional circumstances. The accused was truly desperate and had no choice but to disobey the law. Courts have generally recognized a set of criteria to determine whether or not the defense can be met, as follows:

1 The unlawful act was intended to avert a greater evil
2 There could not have been any reasonable, legal alternative course of action
3 The unlawful act could not have been more than what was necessary to avert the greater evil and
4 The unlawful act must have been effective, or at least highly probably effective, towards averting the greater evil.

However, courts are generally very reluctant to accept this defense, due to fear of precedent and public message. Therefore, it could be possible for an accused to be convicted, even where all of the above criteria hold.