Opinion of The Court
Judge Sol Wachtler wrote for a unanimous court. The Court held that to use an entirely subjective test to determine whether a defendant appropriately used deadly physical force would be very dangerous, in that it would permit a jury to acquit every defendant who believed that his actions were reasonable, regardless of how bizarre the rationale. The Court explained that the justification statute requires an objective element, in that deadly physical force is only permissible if a reasonable person would believe that he is in imminent fear of serious physical injury or death. This would prevent the slippery slope of a different reasonable test necessary for every single defendant claiming justification.
With respect to the lower court's alternate theory for dismissal, the perjury issue, the Court held that there was no basis for the lower court to suspect perjury, and that there was no basis in statute or case law permitting a dismissal merely because new information comes to light which may lead a defendant's acquittal.
Therefore, the Court reversed the lower court on both grounds, and reinstated all counts of the indictment.
Read more about this topic: People V. Goetz
Famous quotes containing the words opinion and/or court:
“She had more sand in her than any girl I ever see: in my opinion she was just full of sand. It sounds like flattery, but it ain’t no flattery.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“If a walker is indeed an individualist there is nowhere he can’t go at dawn and not many places he can’t go at noon. But just as it demeans life to live alongside a great river you can no longer swim in or drink from, to be crowded into safer areas and hours takes much of the gloss off walking—one sport you shouldn’t have to reserve a time and a court for.”
—Edward Hoagland (b. 1932)