## Facts

- Richard Aiken and the victim were longtime next-door neighbors in a Bronx apartment building; their relationship deteriorated after a dispute over alleged cable/telephone “siphoning.”
- In 1997, after a heated argument, the victim stabbed Aiken in the back, requiring hospitalization.
- Between 1997 and 1999, the victim repeatedly threatened to shoot, stab, or injure Aiken, including threats made to Aiken, Aiken’s father, and neighbors; on one occasion the victim brandished a boxcutter.
- On December 21, 1999, Aiken and the victim argued through the shared wall between their apartments; Aiken struck his side of the wall with a metal pipe, leaving an indentation.
- Police were called; the victim left his apartment to go downstairs to open the front door for responding officers.
- Aiken repeatedly opened his apartment door and looked into the public hallway until he saw the victim with a friend.
- Aiken stood in his apartment doorway holding the metal pipe and argued with the victim.
- Aiken testified that he remained in the doorway (not entering the hallway) as the victim came “nose to nose,” reached into his pocket, threatened to kill him, and Aiken—fearing another stabbing—struck the victim in the head with the pipe, killing him.

## Issues

1. Under Penal Law § 35.15, does a person standing in the doorway between an apartment and a common hallway have a duty to retreat into the apartment, if he knows he can do so with complete safety, before using deadly physical force?
2. Did the trial court err by refusing to instruct the jury that there is no duty to retreat when a defendant is in his home and in close proximity to the threshold?

## Decision

- The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction.
- The court held that a defendant standing in the doorway between his apartment and a common hallway has a duty to retreat into his home when he knows he can do so with complete safety before using deadly force.
- The trial court properly gave the duty-to-retreat instruction and properly refused the requested “no duty to retreat at or near the threshold” instruction.
- Aiken’s first-degree manslaughter conviction (as a lesser included offense of murder) remained undisturbed.

## Legal Principles

- Penal Law § 35.15 generally bars defensive deadly force when the actor knows he can, with complete safety, avoid using such force by retreating.
- The statutory “dwelling” exception to retreat is limited to being “in” the dwelling; it does not automatically extend to the doorway/threshold when the confrontation is at the boundary with a common hallway.
- In a multi-unit building, a common hallway is treated as distinct from the private dwelling for retreat analysis; when positioned in the doorway, an actor who can safely move back into the dwelling must do so before resorting to deadly force.
- A justification charge is not erroneous where it states the retreat requirement consistent with § 35.15 and omits a defense-requested instruction that misstates the law.

## Conclusion

The court clarified that the no-retreat rule within a dwelling does not categorically cover an apartment doorway facing a common hallway; if the actor knows he can retreat into the apartment with complete safety, § 35.15 requires retreat before using deadly force.


People v. Aiken, 828 N.E.2d 74 (N.Y. 2005)