involuntary manslaughter

In accordance with the provisions of section 192(b) PC, the main characteristic of involuntary homicides is that the subjects who committed the crime lacked the intention of taking someone else’s life, that is, quite the opposite, to what happens when a murder occurs as indicated in the California Penal Code in section 187, which specifies that premeditation or intent is required.

It is necessary to highlight that section 192(b) PC does not cover those cases in which involuntary manslaughter occurred while a vehicle was involved in the act since these cases are handled in accordance with the regulations available to the State of California for vehicular homicides.

Therefore, behaviors of this type are considered perpetrated in two ways:

• Causing an individual to die while an unlawful act is being carried out, provided it is a felony,
• Causing an individual to die shows an unlawful act is being carried out that poses a danger of causing possible bodily injury or death and is done without attention to precautionary measures or due care.

Examples:

The situations described below will be used as an example so that illegal conduct of this type can be better understood.

• A girl with a pet dog frequently attacks other people. she once allows the animal to run off her leash de Ella while at a dog park, and her pet de Ella attacks the owner of another dog to death. In a case like the one described, the young woman will face charges of both involuntary manslaughter and failure to control a dangerous animal under section 399 PC.
• A couple is arguing, the woman is looking for the weapon that belongs to her in order to threaten her husband, which is considered a violation of what is indicated in section 417 PC, which establishes that displaying or branding a weapon is a crime. She then accidentally fires the gun, taking the life of her husband from her. In this case, the woman may face charges for both the aforementioned crime and involuntary manslaughter.
• A boy carries out the theft of a bicycle that was outside a business, for which he would be committing the crime of theft, indicated in section 484 PC. While he is fleeing with the bicycle, he accidentally pushes a subject who was passing by and he hits his head against one of the sidewalks, and the blow caused his death. In this scenario, the boy will have to face charges for having committed involuntary manslaughter.

In the State of California, it is part of the prosecution’s duty to prove that the elements of a crime were fully carried out in order for the accused person to be found guilty of the crime in question. Pursuant to PC section 192(b), the elements that must be proven for a subject to be convicted of manslaughter include the following:

• Committing a crime not considered dangerous, a misdemeanor, or an infraction, although it may equally be the performance of a legal action carried out legally.
• Acting or perpetrating the crime demonstrating criminal negligence during the occurrence of the event.
• The action caused the death of another person.

In order for some of the terms used above to be understood, they will be addressed in depth in the following lines.

An event is believed to have caused the death of someone else when:

• The death was a direct, natural, and probable effect of the act of the accused person.
• Death would not have occurred without the act of the person.

Which means that any reasonable person instead of the defendant would have realized that the death of some person could result from his actions.

Example: Harry and John were watching a football game in their favorite bar, each one supports different teams because of what they discuss. Thinking it’s just a prank, Harry throws a plate of olives at John, which is set up as an assault. As a consequence, John, who is allergic to olives, sees his life in danger, since he has a fairly strong allergic reaction to the food and because he is consuming alcohol until he is drunk, he does not get the necessary treatment for his allergy in time and does not realize that his condition is very serious. The reason for this, John loses his life upon arrival at the hospital.

In this case, it is possible that Harry is not considered guilty of involuntary manslaughter, since the cause of death is not a probable and natural consequence of throwing a plate of olives at a person.

Involuntary manslaughter in the State of California only occurs once the accused person does something wrong, so accidents are always ruled out. The illegal action can be:

• Infraction, as illegal conduct considered low level for which it leads to a fine, such as traffic violations or disturbing the peace, in accordance with the provisions of section 415 PC.
• minor offense
• A felony is not considered dangerous.
• The act not qualified as a crime, but was carried out illegally.

When a person takes the life of another while committing a felony considered inherently dangerous, they will not be charged with manslaughter. Because you will likely be charged with the crime of murder under California law regarding felony murder.

Example: Harry whose job is to be a healer so he does not have any type of medical license. John, who has been diagnosed with leukemia, goes to Harry, with the intention that he will provide him with treatment. The reason why Harry regularly performs abdominal massages, since, for him, these have the ability to cure the disease.

However, the massages actually produce sudden internal bleeding in John, for which he loses his life.

In this case, Harry may be guilty of John’s death, since he is carrying out an illegal and unauthorized medical practice. What is considered a greater illegal act, which in turn is qualified as a potential danger? So, ultimately, Harry will face involuntary manslaughter charges under section 192(b) PC.

It should be noted that illegal behavior does not necessarily have to be egregious. On the contrary, the fact that a simple infraction occurs or an action is carried out that is not dangerous, but that in the same way caused someone else to lose their life, will suffice for a person to be accused of committing this crime.

One way to exemplify the above is the following: A doctor prescribes opioids to one of his patients in order to calm very severe pain, but he exceeds the dose that is generally recommended and when ingesting them, the patient died of an overdose. In this case, it is necessary to understand that the prescription is not an illegal activity, however, the doctor was imprudent in prescribing a dose higher than the recommended one, which caused the death of the patient, which does not make him responsible for this crime.

Regardless of whether the person accused of involuntary manslaughter is for a legal act or an underlying crime, the prosecutor in charge of the case is obliged to prove that the subject carried out the activity demonstrating criminal negligence.

It is necessary to understand that criminal negligence goes beyond a simple carelessness, or placing the necessary attention or more than a simple ordinary error of judgment. In order for it to be determined that criminal negligence occurred, two key conditions must be met:

• The subject acted in a reckless manner, creating a potential danger of death or bodily injury to another person, and
• Any other reasonable subject would know that doing that action in such a way would produce that risk.

One way to exemplify what has been described is as follows: Max leaves three of his young children at home to hang out in a bar. During the time she was away from the house, the house catches fire, causing the youngest child to lose his life. In this case, Max could not be held responsible for involuntary manslaughter, since the actions carried out by him are not considered criminal negligence, this is due to the fact that the probability of a fire breaking out was very low, for which reason had the ability to reasonably believe that his course of action caused injury or death to any of the minors.

On the other hand, if Max cannot hire a babysitter to take care of his 9-month-old baby, during the hours in which he must work, and he decides to leave the minor inside his vehicle, for a very hot day and also does not leave one of the windows open, so after a certain time, the baby dies from the heat, due to severe dehydration, it can be determined that Max is guilty of involuntary manslaughter since any other subject would reasonably know that leaving the child in the above conditions could result in death or injury, which is considered criminal negligence.

In relation to this, the first thing that must be taken into account is that this type of behavior, which is classified as felonies, leads to the following punishments:

• Payment of fines for an amount of up to $10,000.
• Imprisonment for a period of 2, 3 or 4 years.
• Formal probation or control measure.

Regarding the last punishment, it is necessary to understand the probation regimes are different, the specific controlled probation measures differ from the informal or summary, since it is a punishment that is not only imposed in felony cases since it includes various terms and conditions, among which can be found compliance with some regime of presentations before the probation officer, and if this term is violated, it could lead to the supplementation of the benefit for which the subject must serve his sentence in prison.

In addition, it must be understood in relation to another of the elements that if a subject causes the death of another accidentally by handling a weapon, whether a firearm or not, that he is classified as fatal, and at the time of being prosecuted he is declared guilty of involuntary manslaughter, the sentence given will be considered a strike, according to the law of three strikes, and sometime later he incurs another violent illegal act or felony, then the sanctions that he will have to face will suffer a significant increase.

Involuntary homicides often give rise to civil lawsuits being filed by the family of the victim(s) in a case. If these are successful, the defendants will be obliged to pay compensation as part of the sentence in order to repair the damages caused.

For cases of this type, there are a wide variety of legal defense arguments that can be used in order to challenge the charges for this crime in the State of California, however, devising the most appropriate defense strategy for a case is work of the lawyer in charge of the defense, which is why it is of the utmost importance that the accused subject has a legal professional with sufficient experience, since this will be the one who will be in charge of appearing before the court on behalf of the defendant. The defense arguments that are usually used in these cases are the following:

• The subject is the victim of a false accusation.
• In the case there is not enough evidence for the defendant to be convicted.
• The death of the alleged victim occurred as a result of an accident.
• The accused subject acted in this way in self-defense or in defense of someone else.

Involuntary homicides based on the breach of any duty imposed by law are considered as a variety among involuntary homicides, established in section 192(b) PC. Which even has a slightly different definition.

This type of involuntary manslaughter has certain constitutive elements that are mentioned below:

• The accused person was obliged to fulfill some duty that was imposed by law in relation to the victim,
• The accused person did not comply with that duty,
• The person’s error is considered criminal negligence, and
• Breach of duty resulted in the death of the individual.

It is necessary to keep in mind that whether or not a person has any legal duty in relation to another person is left to the discretion of a judge, and not a jury, when it comes to manslaughter.

Cases of this type arise basically when there is a duty to provide care and protection. The relationships that generate the existence of legal duties are:

• Father and son relationships.
• Relationships between paid caregivers and the subjects of their care.
• Relationships between two people, and one of the parties assumes responsibilities over the other.

A clear example of this is the following scenario: Abby and Harry go to their favorite bar and after consuming many drinks, Harry tells Abby to continue the party in his apartment. Harry is aware that Abby is intoxicated. She informs him that she will shoot heroin in the bathroom. After that she passes out on her de ella and Harry drags her onto the balcony, and then she goes to sleep. The next day, he finds her dead.

Once Harry invites Abby to his apartment and allows her to use the bathroom in his home to get high, Harry acquires a legal duty in relation to Abby. And by failing to seek medical help upon seeing the fainting, he could be found guilty of manslaughter.

The crimes that can be related to the illegal manslaughter are diverse, however, a list of some of them is presented below:

• Vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated – Section 191.5 PC.
• Involuntary vehicular manslaughter – Section 192(c) PC.
• Voluntary manslaughter due to a fight or act of passion – Section 192(a) PC.
• Murder – Section 187 PC.

Convictions in San Diego, CA for committing involuntary manslaughter, can result in quite severe consequences, which are not limited to prison sentences, the payment of large sums of money for fines and possible civil lawsuits that end in the payment of compensation, since it is also quite probable that they produce negative effects in various aspects of the life of the person who was convicted, such as, at a professional level, which is not only due to the criminal record acquired by the subject, which they will considerably reduce their study or work options, but in the same way it could lead to the revocation of the professional license that the person must have to practice their profession or to lose the rights to acquire the same or even to carry weapons. In cases like these,it is always best for the person to hire the services of a good lawyer, who is capable of handling their case and obtains the best possible result in it.

If you are located in San Diego, CA and want to contact a good lawyer, the best thing you can do is call our legal office San Diego Criminal Attorney, there the best team of lawyers in the State will be waiting for you to provide you with the advice you need. and with the dedication and professionalism that characterizes them, they will be able to obtain an improvement in their current legal situation, through the implementation of the most appropriate defense arguments to combat the involuntary manslaughter charges that are being brought against them.

Remember that the help you need is at your disposal, you only have to make a call to the following telephone number 619-880-5474 and we will assist you immediately, witnessing the capacity of our professionals. Do not doubt that a good defense can be the difference between a negative or positive result for your situation. Call now!