People v. Matos
New York Court of Appeals
83 N.Y.2d 509 (1994)

- Written by Carolyn Strutton, JD
Facts
In the middle of the night, Eddie Matos (defendant) and two accomplices broke into a McDonald’s in Manhattan in a robbery attempt. The men held the employees at gunpoint, but one worker escaped and soon returned with police officers. As the officers entered the restaurant, they saw Matos attempting to escape by climbing up a ladder that led to the roof. The first police officer to climb up after Matos fell down an airshaft in the roof and later died from his injuries. Matos was convicted of second-degree murder based on the felony-murder statute, as well as burglary and attempted robbery. Matos appealed and the appellate court affirmed the convictions, finding that the evidence fulfilled the required element for felony murder. Matos appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Ciparick, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.