Darius returned home unexpectedly late at night from a business trip. As he entered his darkened house, he heard what sounded like muffled yelling and banging from the upstairs bedroom. Alarmed, he rushed up and burst into the room, where he saw his wife Nadia partially unclothed and a shirtless man, a stranger to Darius, on top of her in bed.

Believing Nadia was being sexually assaulted, Darius yelled, “Get off my wife!” and grabbed a heavy lamp from the nightstand. He struck the man, Jordan, in the head multiple times until Jordan slumped to the floor, bleeding and unconscious.

As Darius turned to Nadia, she screamed, “What have you done? That’s Jordan, we met tonight—it wasn’t what it looked like!” Police arrived shortly after, and Jordan survived but suffered significant head trauma. Darius was arrested at the scene. He later told police he thought his wife was being attacked and acted to defend her in their home.

Discuss under Common law and MPC.