## Facts

- Paul Olive Martin was an off-duty deputy sheriff who lived next door to his son.
- Martin knew his son’s house was temporarily unoccupied.
- One night, Martin heard noises and went outside to investigate.
- Martin saw two young men breaking into his son’s house.
- Martin returned to his own house, got a shotgun, and told his wife to call the police.
- Martin went back outside and saw the two suspects fleeing.
- Martin ordered the suspects to stop.
- One suspect immediately fell to the ground; the other continued to flee.
- Martin fired at the fleeing suspect, killing him.
- The prosecution charged Martin with involuntary manslaughter and alleged use of a firearm during that offense.
- After a preliminary hearing, Martin sought dismissal of the charge by Penal Code § 995 motion; the superior court set aside the information, and the People appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether Penal Code § 197(4) justified Martin’s shooting and killing of an apparently unarmed participant in a nighttime burglary of a residence while that participant fled from the scene.
2. Whether, in light of that justification, the superior court properly granted Martin’s Penal Code § 995 motion setting aside the involuntary-manslaughter information and the firearm-use allegation for lack of probable cause.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed the superior court’s order granting the Penal Code § 995 motion.
- Because the facts were undisputed, the court treated the applicability of Penal Code § 197(4) as a question of law and did not defer to conflicting interpretations reached below.
- Construing Penal Code § 197(4), the court concluded the statute justified the homicide on these facts: Martin shot while attempting to apprehend a fleeing participant in a nighttime burglary of a dwelling.
- Since the killing was justified as a matter of law, there was no probable cause to proceed on involuntary manslaughter (an unlawful killing), and the related firearm-use allegation could not stand with that charge at the information stage.

## Legal Principles

- When the material facts are undisputed, whether a justification statute applies is a question of law reviewed independently on appeal.
- Penal Code § 197(4) authorizes justifiable homicide when the killing is necessarily committed in attempting, by lawful means, to apprehend a person for a felony committed.
- A court may set aside an information under Penal Code § 995 when the evidence at the preliminary hearing fails to show probable cause because, on the undisputed facts, a statutory justification makes the charged homicide lawful.

## Conclusion

People v. Martin held that Penal Code § 197(4) justified an off-duty deputy’s fatal shooting of a fleeing participant in a nighttime residential burglary, and the Court of Appeal therefore affirmed the superior court’s order setting aside the involuntary-manslaughter information (and its firearm-use allegation) under Penal Code § 995 for lack of probable cause.


People v. Martin, 168 Cal. App.3d 1111 (1985)