# State v. Canola

> Supreme Court of New Jersey · April 7, 1977 · 73 N.J. 206

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9701782

## Case

- **Full name:** State of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Leonel Canola, A/K/A Leon Vasquez, Defendant-Appellant
- **Court:** Supreme Court of New Jersey
- **Decided:** April 7, 1977
- **Citations:** 73 N.J. 206; 374 A.2d 20; 1977 N.J. LEXIS 197
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Hughes
- **Judges:** Conford, Sullivan, Hughes
- **Cited by:** 46 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9701782

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding, however, that killing of accomplice in skirmish was not in furtherance of the undertaking

## Opinion text

Hughes, C. J.,
dissenting. I respectfully dissent from the opinion of the majority here, and would affirm the decision of the Appellate Division, 135 N. J. Super. 224, for the precise reasons stated in its majority opinion. I certainly believe-that what was there referred to as the "ensues clause” can have no other logical or legislatively intended meaning than to extend criminal liability, in a causative sense, to death which ensues or is proximately caused by initiation and furtherance of the felony. This on the concept stated by the Appellate Division:
The proximate cause theory, simply stated, is that when a felon sets in motion a chain of events which were or should have been within his contemplation when the motion was initiated, the felon, and those acting in concert with him, should be held responsible for any death which by direct and almost inevitable consequences results from the initial criminal act. [State v. Canola, 135 N. J. Super. 224, 235 (1975)].
Resistance whether by victim or police, and even unintended or accidental deaths which occur in the confused res gestae of violent felony, can hardly be deemed outside the contemplation of the initiator of such criminal violence.
Sullivan and Pashman, J.J., concurring in the result.
For modification — Justices Mountain, Sullivan, Pashm:an, Clieeord and Schreibbr and Judge Coneord — 6. .
For affirmance — Chief Justice Hughes — 1.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9701782. Public record. Not legal advice.