When will a justification charge be brought against a defendant convicted of manslaughter in the second degree?

"New York", United States of America

The following excerpt is from People v. Rodriguez, 16 N.Y.3d 341, 2011 N.Y. Slip Op. 02074, 921 N.Y.S.2d 628, 946 N.E.2d 726 (N.Y. 2011):

Addressing the most serious felonies of which defendant was convictedmanslaughter in the second degree and assault in the second degreewe conclude that there was no reasonable view of the evidence that would have supported a justification charge relative to either of those crimes ( see [921 N.Y.S.2d 631] People v. Cox, 92 N.Y.2d 1002, 10041005, 684 N.Y.S.2d 473, 707 N.E.2d 428 [1998] ). Penal Law 35.05(2) is often referred to as the choice-of-evils defense, and properly so. To be entitled to such a charge there must be two evils. And here, even under defendant's scenario, there was no evil on his part. According to defendant, he was not committing any offense when he jumped into a runaway vehicle to prevent it doing harm to others. So, as to the most serious charges, a justification charge was clearly unwarranted.

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