## Facts

- A juvenile wardship petition under Welfare and Institutions Code § 602 charged Joseph G. (age 16) with murder (Penal Code § 187) and aiding and abetting a suicide (Penal Code § 401).
- Joseph and his friend Jeff W. (age 16) discussed a plan with peers to drive a car off a known cliff to kill themselves.
- Joseph stated their intention to die and made statements suggesting finality (including telling a friend she would not see him again); Jeff repeatedly urged Joseph to proceed.
- When another youth tried to join them, Joseph and Jeff refused, stating they did not want to be responsible for him.
- The boys prepared the car (including adding air to a damaged tire), drove toward the cliff, and went over the edge without braking or swerving, as observed by witnesses.
- Jeff died in the crash; Joseph survived with severe injuries and later said he drove off the cliff on purpose.
- The juvenile court found the suicide pact genuine and found no ill will, coercion, or intent by Joseph to kill Jeff apart from the mutual plan to die.

## Issues

1. Whether a surviving participant in a genuine mutual suicide pact who drives the vehicle causing the other participant’s death may be adjudicated for murder under Penal Code § 187.
2. Whether such conduct instead falls within Penal Code § 401 as deliberate aiding of another’s suicide, limiting criminal liability to that offense absent proof of coercion, trickery, or independent homicidal intent.

## Decision

- The California Supreme Court reversed the juvenile court’s order insofar as it sustained a first-degree murder finding.
- The court held that, on these facts, Joseph’s conduct fit Penal Code § 401 (aiding and abetting a suicide) rather than murder.
- The matter was remanded for proceedings consistent with treating the conduct, at most, as a violation of Penal Code § 401.

## Legal Principles

- Penal Code § 401 applies to a person who deliberately aids, advises, or encourages another to commit suicide, including conduct that directly facilitates the suicide in a genuine pact.
- Where the decedent’s voluntary choice to die is the central causal factor and the defendant’s role is cooperative rather than coercive, Penal Code § 401 is the appropriate basis for liability rather than homicide.
- Murder liability may be appropriate if the “suicide” is not voluntary or is procured through coercion, trickery, force, or a pretext for killing.
- Courts must respect the Legislature’s decision to define and punish assistance in suicide as a distinct offense; treating pact-based assistance as murder would substantially dilute that statutory scheme.
- In a juvenile wardship proceeding, the classification of the conduct (murder versus aiding suicide) turns on substantive criminal law definitions applicable beyond the juvenile context.

## Conclusion

Because the evidence showed a bona fide suicide pact and no independent homicidal intent or coercion, the surviving driver could not be adjudicated for murder; the conduct supported only liability under Penal Code § 401 for deliberate assistance in the other participant’s suicide.


In re Joseph G., 34 Cal. 3d 429 (Cal. 1983)