Court Opinion

ID: 9651079
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 16:05:11.088945+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:29.742578
License: Public Domain

Justice EAKIN,
Concurring.
I agree with the proposition that the statute trumps the “three pronged test,” and that the defense was entitled to the instruction, despite contrary language in the caselaw. While defendant never testified, the evidence included his prior testimony of threats, making the duress instruction appropriate, and I therefore concur in the reversal of the prior decision. However, I cannot agree with the broad statements of what is and is not relevant and admissible evidence as concerns this defense.
The test involves (1) a person of reasonable firmness, (2) in the accused’s circumstance. I believe the language used by my colleagues elevates the accused’s subjective mental firmness into the equation; this is not part of the statute, comments from the 1960 tentative draft of the Model Penal Code *277notwithstanding. These broad strokes open the way for “experts” to offer hindsight opinions about what a defendant could and could not resist, which is the ultimate issue for the jury. Considerations of retardation and such may be relevant in a given case, but they are not determinative of this appeal; I would let them for another day when they are squarely presented.