## Facts

- Roe, age 15, had strong interest in firearms and familiarity with his father’s 12-gauge shotgun.
- While friends were present, Roe displayed weapons and demonstrated assembly/disassembly of a sawed-off shotgun.
- Roe retrieved his father’s 12-gauge shotgun and deliberately loaded the magazine with a mixture of live and dummy shells.
- Roe pumped a shell into the chamber without confirming whether it was live.
- From about ten feet away, Roe pointed the shotgun at Darrin Seifert and said, “Let’s play Polish roulette. Who is first?”
- Roe pulled the trigger, discharging a live round that killed Seifert.
- Roe claimed the gun fired accidentally during a demonstration when he slipped and the gun discharged as he caught it.
- A jury convicted Roe of second-degree murder under New York’s depraved indifference provision; the intermediate appellate court affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether Roe’s conduct constituted second-degree murder by recklessly creating a grave risk of death “under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life,” rather than only reckless manslaughter.

## Decision

- The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction.
- The court held that the evidence supported a finding that Roe engaged in Russian-roulette-type conduct that created a grave risk of death under circumstances evincing depraved indifference.
- The court treated the jury’s rejection of Roe’s “accident” account as supported by the surrounding circumstances, including the mixed loading and the “Polish roulette” statement.
- A dissent would have reduced the offense, reasoning the conduct reflected serious recklessness but not depraved indifference murder.

## Legal Principles

- Depraved indifference murder under N.Y. Penal Law § 125.25(2) requires proof that the defendant recklessly engaged in conduct creating a grave risk of death, and that the surrounding circumstances show depraved indifference to human life.
- “Depraved indifference” turns on the objective circumstances and the degree of risk created, not solely on a claim of accidental discharge.
- Conduct functionally equivalent to Russian roulette—intentionally placing another at substantial risk of death by chance-based gunfire—can satisfy depraved indifference murder rather than manslaughter.

## Conclusion

The court upheld a depraved indifference murder conviction where a teenager, familiar with firearms, deliberately set up a Russian-roulette-style scenario by loading mixed shells, aiming at a friend at close range, and pulling the trigger, thereby creating a grave risk of death under circumstances demonstrating indifference to whether death occurred.


People v. Roe, 542 N.E.2d 610 (N.Y. 1989)