ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said Wednesday a person was justified in shooting and killing a man who forced his way into a home in Allentown.
Edwin Diaz-Rivera, 37, was shot on July 9. After an autopsy, the Lehigh County Coroner's Office ruled the cause of death to be gunshot wounds and the manner of death homicide. Homicide is defined as death at the hands of another.
Diaz-Rivera had been involved in an argument with people who lived at a home on the 700 block of North 11th St. and assaulted one of them, according to a news release from the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office.
After that dispute, Diaz-Rivera told the home's occupants he would return to the home with weapons and other people, the DA's office said. He returned to the home a few minutes later with three other people, according to the DA's office.
After interviewing witnesses and viewing video surveillance, authorities found that Diaz-Rivera and the group forced their way into the home, according to the news release.
The same victim of the first assault was shoved into a glass coffee table that shattered, the DA's office said.
One of the people who lived at the home, who legally owned and possessed a handgun, shot and killed Diaz-Rivera and then called 911, according to the DA's office.
The DA's office says an autopsy showed that Diaz-Rivera had alcohol and THC, a component of marijuana, in his system at the time of his death.
DA Martin reviewed an investigation by the Allentown Police Department and the Lehigh County Homicide Task Force. Martin ruled that the homicide was justified on the basis of self-defense. No criminal charges will be filed against the person who shot Diaz-Rivera and that person’s identity will not be released, the DA's office said.
Under Pennsylvania law, a person may use deadly force to protect themselves or others if the person believes that such force is necessary to protect himself against death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping or sexual intercourse compelled by force or threat.
A person is presumed to have a reasonable belief that deadly force is immediately necessary to protect himself against death or serious bodily injury when the person against whom the force is used is in the process of unlawfully and forcefully entering, or has unlawfully and forcefully entered and is present within a dwelling, residence or occupied vehicle, and the person has reason to believe the unlawful and forceful entry or act is occurring or has occurred.
The DA's office said the evidence and witness accounts of the event support the use of deadly force, as Diaz-Rivera had entered the residence by force and continued to use force even after entry was made. In this case, the entry by force and the continued use of force occurred at and in the home and therefore the shooting is justified under the “Castle Doctrine,” the DA's office said.
The law presumes that someone who unlawfully and by force enters a home is acting with the intent to commit an act resulting in death or serious bodily injury, according to the DA's office. If the person knows or has reason to believe that this unlawful and forceful entry has occurred, the law then presumes that the person’s belief in the necessity of using deadly force is reasonable and justified. The person was present and witnessed the entry by force into his residence, the DA's office said.
