## Facts

- Paaron Jones, on crutches due to a broken leg, and Officer Joseph Benz were at a hospital visiting patients.
- After an argument, Jones struck Benz twice with a crutch.
- Benz displayed his badge and firearm, identified himself as a police officer, and pursued Jones as Jones fled.
- During a physical struggle, Benz’s firearm discharged, striking Jones in the head; Jones later died.
- The county coroner recommended charging Benz with voluntary manslaughter.
- The district attorney declined to prosecute, stating the evidence did not establish a prima facie case and supported Benz’s account that the discharge occurred during a struggle and was accidental.
- The Attorney General’s office reviewed the matter and agreed that criminal charges were not supported.
- Jones’s mother, Laverda Hicks, filed a private criminal complaint seeking homicide charges against Benz.

## Issues

1. What is the proper scope of judicial review when a district attorney disapproves a private criminal complaint based on the prosecutor’s assessment of evidentiary sufficiency?
2. How should courts distinguish between disapproval based on policy/public-interest considerations and disapproval based on legal insufficiency of the evidence?
3. Whether an appellate court may direct approval of a private complaint by substituting its own evaluation of the evidence for the prosecutor’s and trial court’s judgment.

## Decision

- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the Superior Court and reinstated the order denying approval of the private criminal complaint.
- The Court held that substantial deference is owed to the district attorney’s disapproval of a private complaint.
- The Court concluded that the Superior Court exceeded the permissible scope of review by effectively re-evaluating the evidence and ordering prosecution.

## Legal Principles

- Initiation of criminal prosecutions is primarily an executive function committed to prosecutorial discretion; private complaints do not create a right to compel prosecution.
- Courts reviewing disapproval of a private criminal complaint must distinguish:
  - policy-based disapproval (generally reviewable only for bad faith, fraud, or unconstitutionality), and
  - evidence-based disapproval (reviewable in a limited manner for abuse of discretion rather than de novo reweighing).
- When disapproval is grounded on alleged evidentiary insufficiency, the reviewing court may not substitute its own assessment of the facts for the prosecutor’s charging judgment; review is constrained to whether the prosecutor acted arbitrarily, unreasonably, or on improper considerations.

## Conclusion

The court held that judicial review of a disapproved private criminal complaint is narrow and deferential, and it rejected an appellate mandate to prosecute where the district attorney’s evidence-based decision not to proceed was within lawful discretion.


Commonwealth v. Benz, 565 A.2d 764 (Pa. 1989)