People v. Pena

OPINION OF THE COURT

William C. Donnino, J.

The initial question presented is whether a civilian who uses *76deadly physical force to effect the arrest of a person who has in fact just robbed that civilian and is in immediate flight from that robbery is liable for reckless homicide when the result of the use of that deadly force is to kill a person who was not the robber. The answer given by the law of New York is that there is no criminal liability for the homicide under those circumstances.

The secondary question is whether the Grand Jury in this case was properly charged on that applicable law…