THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, RESPONDENT, v. GOETZ, APPELLANT

Court of Appeals of New York
497 N.E. 2d 41, 68 N.Y.2d 96
July 8, 1986

FACTS
The Defendant attempted murder, assault for shooting and wounding four young youths on the subway in New York City. Two of the young kids approached the defendant and asked him for five dollars. Two of the four young kids were carrying a screw driver and said they were used to break into coin machines. The defendant was carrying a handgun. One of the young kids approached the defendant and demanded him to give him five dollars but didn’t display a weapon. The Defendant stood up and as a response he fired four shots hitting each young kid. The Defendant had told the conductor that two of the young kid had tried to rob him, then he run away on the scene on foot. The defendant decided to turn himself sand later admitted that he knew none of the young kids had a gun and that he was afraid based on his prior experience of being maimed by all four young kids. The defendant also said his shots were intended to kill or hurt the young kids as much as possible. The Defendant admitted of shooting two of the young kids who began to run away after seeing the first shot.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY …show more content…
The attempted murder, assault and weapons possession charges were dismissed. The courts reversed and reinstated all counts of the indictment. The precise circumstances of the incident giving ride to the charges against defendant are disputed, but ultimately will be for a trial jury to determine what occurred. The defendant argued that at trial the prosecutor falsely mixed a subjective element to the jurors to consider whether the defendant’s conduct was of a reasonable man “in Goetz situation.” The court decided that the test should entirely be subjective and dismissed it because Goetz self – defense was