People v. Duffy

OPINION OF THE COURT

Titone, J.

This appeal calls upon us to address two related questions: whether a person may be convicted of second degree manslaughter for engaging in reckless conduct which results in another person’s committing suicide and, if so, whether the conduct of the defendant in this case was a sufficiently direct cause of the victim’s death to support his conviction. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that both these questions should be answered in the affirmative.

I

According to the evidence adduced below, Jason Schuhle — a 17-year-old youth — met defendant on a street in…