State v. Rodriguez

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding a person must have a reasonable and sincere belief in his need to kill in self - defense before resorting to deadly force
• noting that the question of whether a defendant \knew that he could have avoided the use of deadly force by safely retreating\ was a jury question
• finding \the trial court's repeated instruction to the jury that self-defense did not apply to manslaughter was prejudicial error\ (quoting State v. Rodriguez, 397 N.J. Super. 101, 113 (2007))
• “[A]cting on an honest and reasonable belief in the need to use deadly force against an aggressor is not reckless, but . . . endangering third parties in the use of such force may be reckless.”
• \We will not sanction the gratuitous use of deadly force. . . .\
• because self-defense inconsistent with commission of reckless manslaughter, self-defense constitutes complete defense to charge and jury should be instructed on duty to acquit if defendant’s use of deadly force justified

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Cited by

16 cases in this archive cite this case.

• Henry v. New Jersey Department of Human Services
  Supreme Court of New Jersey· 2010-12-10· cited 227×
• State v. Naquan O'neil (072072)
  Supreme Court of New Jersey· 2014-10-06· cited 163×
• State v. Docaj
  New Jersey Superior Court App Division· 2009-05-27· cited 28×
• State v. Rambo
  New Jersey Superior Court App Division· 2008-07-22· cited 25×
• State v. Handy
  Supreme Court of New Jersey· 2013-09-09· cited 24×
• State of New Jersey v. Jacob R. Gentry
  New Jersey Superior Court App Division· 2015-01-13· cited 22×
• State of Arizona v. Jesus Xavier Almaguer
  Court of Appeals of Arizona· 2013-05-31· cited 21×
• Anthony Haire v. State
  Wyoming Supreme Court· 2017-05-08· cited 14×
• State v. Handy
  New Jersey Superior Court App Division· 2011-08-04· cited 7×
• Hosnedl v. State
  District Court of Appeal of Florida· 2013-11-06· cited 6×
• State v. Fowler
  New Jersey Superior Court App Division· 2018-03-08· cited 2×
• State v. Carson
  Court of Appeals of Arizona· 2017-02-24· cited 2×
• In the Matter of Garcia
  Supreme Court of New Jersey· 2008-01-12
• State v. Joey J. Fowler and Jamil L. Hearns (080880) (Union County and Statewide)
  Supreme Court of New Jersey· 2019-07-30
• STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. JULIAN SANDERS (17-07-1979, ESSEX COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)
  New Jersey Superior Court App Division· 2021-05-13
• State of New Jersey v. Stephanie Martinez
  New Jersey Superior Court App Division· 2025-01-23