Choice of Evils (originally aired March 1, 2005)
A mother is charged with murdering her son out of fear of the crimes he might commit.
This episode involves two defenses to murder.
- The "extreme emotional disturbance" principle basically recognizes that a person who loses self-control under extreme circumstances should not be punished as severely as, say, someone who planned for hours or months to kill an enemy.
Under New York law, if someone intentionally kills another, he or she would generally be considered guilty of murder in the second degree (murder in the first degree occurs when there are special factors such as if the victim was a police officer). But he or she could be treated as having committed only manslaughter in the first degree if he or she was influenced by an extreme emotional disturbance and had an explanation or excuse that would be considered reasonable based on the defendant's subjective mental condition and the circumstances as perceived by the defendant.
- The justification defense is meant for defendants who commit an act to save a life or put out a fire or for prisoners who escaped from a burning jail, not for people who could have acted in a calmer, more reasonable way.
Specifically, New York Penal Law 35.05 declares an otherwise criminal act to be justifiable and not criminal when it is "necessary as an emergency measure to avoid an imminent public or private injury which is about to occur by reason of a situation occasioned or developed through no fault of the actor, and which is of such gravity that, according to ordinary standards of intelligence and morality, the desirability and urgency of avoiding such injury clearly outweigh the desirability of avoiding the injury sought to be prevented by the statue defining the offense in issue."
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By Stephen Lee
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