Court Opinion

ID: 9703341
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 23:52:41.011134+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:47.649571
License: Public Domain

*222LARSEN, Justice,
dissenting.
.. I dissent. I disagree with the Majority’s conclusion that a verdict of voluntary manslaughter can be sustained on the record.
A review of the record indicates that immediately prior to his death, the victim conducted a reign of destruction and terror throughout his house, assaulted appellant (his father) and his mother, and threatened to kill all of the individuals who were in the house. When, during his siege of the house, the victim tried to force open the door to the room on the fourth level of the house where some members of his family were located, appellant fired the fatal shot at the victim in order to protect his family from the victim. Clearly, appellant’s slaying of the victim constituted justifiable homicide.
Notwithstanding the victim’s violent and threatening conduct, the Majority concludes that appellant’s slaying of the victim could constitute voluntary manslaughter. The only evidence which the Majority cites to support such a finding is a statement given by appellant to the police wherein (according to the Majority) “appellant stated, that his wife was in the bedroom on the third level when the shooting occurred. . . . [T]hat statement made no mention as to whether anyone else, other than the victim, was on the fourth level at the time, or that Darell [the victim] was attempting to force his way into a room on that level.” The Majority attaches unwarranted significance to this statement — in fact, the statement adds nothing to the Commonwealth’s case. Even if appellant’s wife was in the third level bedroom (and not on the fourth level) when the shooting occurred, the fact remains that other members of appellant’s family were under attack on the fourth level at the time of the shooting. The Commonwealth’s evidence minimally establishes that there were family members under attack by the victim on the fourth floor — appellant’s statement is not contra to this.
Thus, appellant’s slaying of the victim was justifiable; appellant should be discharged.