State v. Diaz
Connecticut Supreme Court
679 A.2d 902 (1996)
Ray Ivan Diaz (defendant) and four others fired 35 to 40 bullets at a passing car, and a stray bullet killed an eight-year-old bystander. Diaz was charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, and a weapons offense, and the trial court instructed the jury under the Pinkerton doctrine that a conspirator can be held liable for a co-conspirator's crimes that fall within the conspiracy's scope, further it, and are a foreseeable consequence of it. The jury convicted Diaz on all counts, and he appealed, arguing he personally lacked the specific intent to kill.
Whether a defendant may be held vicariously liable under Pinkerton for murder committed by a co-conspirator when the killing was within the scope of the conspiracy, committed in furtherance of it, and reasonably foreseeable as its natural consequence.