## Facts

- Barr lived behind an antique store near the University of Arizona; the owner asked him to watch the yard due to prior thefts.
- Late at night, Barr awoke to noises and voices outside and observed several men in or near the yard; he saw two men nearby, including one urinating on his wall.
- Barr armed himself with a pistol, confronted the men, and ordered them to drop what they were carrying.
- The men dropped two wooden chairs taken from the yard and walked away up an alley, ignoring Barr’s commands to stop.
- Barr fired warning shots upward; he then fired again at what he claimed was a height he believed to be over their heads.
- A bullet struck Timothy Tylutki in the head, killing him.
- Barr was indicted and tried for voluntary manslaughter; a witness testified the group did not see or hear Barr before the gunfire.
- Barr requested a justifiable-homicide jury instruction based on a citizen’s arrest / prevention-of-felony theory; the trial court refused, and the jury convicted him.

## Issues

1. Whether Barr was entitled to a justifiable-homicide instruction based on a private citizen’s use of deadly force to apprehend or prevent the escape of suspected felons.
2. Whether deadly force can be justified in a citizen’s arrest context when the suspected offense is a property theft and there is no evidence of an imminent threat to human life.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the voluntary manslaughter conviction.
- The court held Barr was not entitled to a justifiable-homicide instruction on these facts.
- The court limited the private-citizen “fleeing felon” justification: deadly force is not justified unless a felony in fact occurred and it is inherently dangerous to human life (or otherwise presents a serious threat to life).
- Because the suspected conduct involved stealing chairs and lacked evidence of a serious threat to life, no reasonable view of the evidence supported the requested instruction.

## Legal Principles

- A private citizen’s use of deadly force to arrest or prevent escape is constrained by life-protective limits comparable to self-defense and defense of premises.
- Deadly force to effect a citizen’s arrest is unjustified unless:
  - a felony has actually been committed; and
  - the felony is inherently dangerous to human life or the circumstances show a serious, imminent threat to life.
- The felony label alone, particularly for nonviolent property offenses, does not justify lethal force by a private citizen.

## Conclusion

The court upheld Barr’s manslaughter conviction because the evidence showed, at most, a nonviolent property theft and no immediate threat to life; under Arizona law, that did not warrant a justifiable-homicide instruction for a private citizen’s use of deadly force.


State v. Barr, 115 Ariz. 346, 565 P.2d 526 (Ct. App. 1977)