iPhone 5c has no power.

Hello! I am having delivered a iphone 5c that has no power. Why would this happen? I pretty sure it would be the battery or the screen. Is the iphone able to turn on without a battery or show signs that the battery is dead? Like how with one of my previous iphones it turned on with me just plugging it in and it was because the battery was dead. Does the iphone 5c do this as well? What are the other reasons this would happen other than the ones I listed? Or do I know for sure it's one of those things. I do not have the phone yet so I do not know to many things about the phone. The phone has some cracks in it, so it has been dropped before. EDIT The phone has some damage on the inside that I can see. Can one of these cause the no power issue?