What is the transferred intent test used in a murder case?

The transferred intent theory, codified under Penal Law 125.25(1), provides that where the resulting death is of a third person who was not the defendant's intended victim, the defendant may nonetheless be held to the same level of criminal liability as if the intended victim were killed (People v. Fernandez, 88 N.Y.2d 777, 781, 650 N.Y.S.2d 625, 673 N.E.2d 910 [1996] ). This theory of intent is founded on a legal fiction, whereby once the state of mind is established the identity of the victim is irrelevant (Fernandez, 88 N.Y.2d at 781, 650 N.Y.S.2d 625, 673 N.E.2d 910 ). The theory is deployed in order to permit a jury to find defendant guilty of intentional murder, even though technically lacking an intentional state of mind with respect to the actual victim (Fernandez, 88 N.Y.2d at 781, 650 N.Y.S.2d 625, 673 N.E.2d 910 ).