By: Jennifer Bauer*
Abstract
Police violence is a widespread problem in the United States that disproportionately affects Black communities. Social justice movements and the media pressure prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against offending officers. However, convictions are rare, partly because officers can assert a legal defense for using deadly force in effecting arrests. Based on common law or state justification statutes, this available defense permits officers to use deadly force in “reasonable” circumstances, pursuant to the Fourth Amendment. What constitutes “reasonable,” however, is a fact-specific, discretionary, and murky question for courts.
Pennsylvania’s justification statute, 18 Pa. Const. Stat. § 508(a), was at issue in Commonwealth v. Pownall, in which the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office (“DAO”) charged Officer Ryan Pownall with third-degree murder for allegedly killing David Jones, a Black man, during a traffic stop. The DAO anticipated that Pownall would rely on section 508(a) at trial and, in a motion in limine, preemptively asked the court not to use the standard suggested jury instructions that summarize the statute. The DAO argued that the statute is unconstitutional because it permits the use of deadly force in categorically unreasonable situations. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the lower courts’ dismissal of the motion under procedural rules without reaching the issue of section 508(a)’s constitutionality. But, the court strongly suggested that section 508(a) is constitutional and, importantly, reasoned that rewriting the statute is a job reserved solely for the legislature.
Pownall highlights the difficulty and necessity of challenging and changing use of force policies and defenses and the way they are explained to juries. Today, the jury instructions are vague and do not reflect the nuances of deadly force, including the systemic biases favoring police. Because jury instructions are critical to reaching accurate verdicts, stakeholders should rewrite the instructions to ensure a fair administration of justice and hold officers accountable, thereby reducing future violence.
* J.D. Candidate, The Pennsylvania State University School of Law, 2024.