## Facts

- Theresa Barone was charged with homicide by vehicle under 75 Pa. C.S. § 3732 after a traffic collision caused the death of a motorcyclist.
- On a clear, dry morning, Barone drove on a busy, heavily trafficked street, approached an intersection controlled by a stop sign, proceeded through the intersection, and attempted a left turn.
- A motorcycle struck the right side of Barone’s vehicle while she crossed the intersection; the motorcyclist died.
- The Commonwealth’s theory was that a traffic violation at the intersection, combined with the resulting death, established the statutory offense.
- Barone filed a demurrer to the homicide-by-vehicle charge; the trial court sustained the demurrer and discharged her for insufficient evidence of culpability.
- Barone also challenged § 3732 as unconstitutional (including claims of vagueness, overbreadth, and lack of a fault requirement); the trial court rejected those constitutional attacks.

## Issues

1. Whether 75 Pa. C.S. § 3732 creates strict liability for an unintentional death occurring during any traffic-law violation, or instead requires proof of culpable negligence.
2. Whether § 3732, if construed to impose liability without fault, violates due process (including on vagueness and overbreadth theories).
3. Whether the Commonwealth’s evidence was sufficient to establish the required level of culpability and defeat a demurrer.

## Decision

- The Superior Court affirmed the order sustaining Barone’s demurrer and discharging her on the homicide-by-vehicle charge.
- The court construed § 3732 to require proof of culpable negligence, not mere proof of a traffic violation plus an unintentional death.
- Applying that construction, the court held the Commonwealth’s evidence did not show conduct amounting to a gross deviation from the standard of care.
- The court affirmed the trial court’s rejection of Barone’s constitutional challenges because the culpable-negligence construction avoided the asserted due process problems.

## Legal Principles

- A vehicular-homicide statute imposing serious criminal penalties will be construed, where fairly possible, to require a culpable mental state rather than absolute liability based solely on a traffic violation and resulting death.
- Under § 3732, the Commonwealth must prove culpable negligence consistent with 18 Pa. C.S. § 302(b)(4): conduct constituting a gross deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would observe in the actor’s situation.
- A technical or ordinary traffic infraction, without proof of culpable negligence, is insufficient to support homicide-by-vehicle liability.
- A limiting construction that requires culpable negligence can resolve due process objections premised on punishing a defendant who acted reasonably.

## Conclusion

The court held that Pennsylvania’s homicide-by-vehicle statute requires proof of culpable negligence and affirmed Barone’s discharge because the Commonwealth’s evidence showed, at most, an accident connected to a traffic violation rather than a gross deviation from reasonable care.


Commonwealth v. Barone, 276 Pa. Super. 282, 419 A.2d 457 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1980)