Involuntary manslaughter occurs when a person unintentionally causes the death of another individual, either directly or indirectly. This usually happens through recklessness, negligence, or criminally negligent behavior. It is a grave crime but not an indefensible one. A criminal conviction in California carries harsh penalties, many of which can disrupt your life for years, with long prison sentences, significant fines, and a criminal record that will impact your life after imprisonment. While it is a serious crime, you have defenses that can challenge the allegations enough to have them reduced or even thrown out entirely.

Facing these charges often seems daunting. However, with the help of a criminal defense attorney with experience handling these cases, you can mount a solid defense to challenge the allegations. A successful defense could result in a not guilty verdict, a reduction of your charges, or a dismissal. We at Monterey Criminal Attorney can help defend you if you are facing manslaughter charges in the Monterey area.

Involuntary Manslaughter Under California Law

Involuntary manslaughter is the unintentional killing committed as a result of recklessness or criminal negligence. Involuntary manslaughter cases lack a clear intent to kill, as there is in murder cases. The point of focus in these cases becomes a question about how your irresponsible or careless behavior played into another person’s death.

Involuntary manslaughter is generally divided into two categories:

  • Killings due to criminal negligence — You commit this killing when you act in a manner that is grossly negligent and which shows disregard for the life of another. For example, if you speed through a crowded pedestrian area and hit someone, killing them, that would be apparent criminal negligence.

  • Killing as a result of an unlawful act — This occurs when you commit a non-felony crime or an illegal act that results in another person being killed. An example would be when you find yourself in a physical altercation with another individual and, without intent, kill someone during said fight.

Elements of the Crime

Prosecutors must prove the following to establish their case:

  • You committed an infraction or misdemeanor and not an inherently dangerous felony. Alternatively, prosecutors can assert that you unlawfully committed a lawful act.

  • You acted with criminal negligence, meaning you did something callous and gross that was beyond a careless act. Your actions should show a wanton disregard for the lives of others. Your actions had to be far beyond what a reasonable person would do.

  • Your actions should be the direct cause of another person losing their life. Prosecutors must show that your actions directly caused, without any doubt, the victim’s death. Therefore, a direct causal relationship existed between what you did and someone dying.

Prosecutors have to prove all these elements beyond a reasonable doubt for the jury to find you guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Let us look at the elements in detail.

  1. You Committed an Infraction or Misdemeanor and Not an Inherently Dangerous Felony

Involuntary manslaughter happens when your actions lead to death and fall under specific legal categories. For your conduct to be punishable, the prosecution must prove that it was either done with criminal negligence or in an unlawful manner and falls into one of these categories:

An Infraction

Minor offenses like running a red light are usually less serious. They are often punishable by paying fines rather than imprisonment. However, if you deliberately breach the duty of care owed to others, resulting in another person’s death, the infraction serves as the basis for an involuntary manslaughter charge.

For example, this could include cases whereby you drive recklessly at high speed through a busy road where people are walking and cause an accident that kills someone.

A Misdemeanor

Conversely, misdemeanors are more serious crimes than infractions. These violations are punishable by jail terms. Examples of misdemeanor offenses include petty theft or simple assault.

On the other hand, if there is gross negligence involved while committing the misdemeanor and somebody dies, the offense becomes grave, and prosecutors would use it to pursue an involuntary manslaughter charge. For example, death could happen by chance when, during a fistfight, violence breaks out, and consequently, one person gets killed by mistake.

Non-Dangerous Felonies

Non-dangerous felonies include non-violent drug offenses or felony theft, among others. However, despite being felonies, these offenses do not pose an inherent danger to human life. If you commit any of these felonies negligently and it leads to another person’s death, you could face involuntary manslaughter charges.

If, for example, your dangerous driving in the transportation of some stolen goods results in death, you would face involuntary manslaughter charges.

A Legal Act Done in an Unlawful Manner

Likewise, an unlawful manner of engaging in a lawful act could lead to involuntary manslaughter charges. Say you are lawfully handling a firearm but do so recklessly and accidentally shoot someone dead. Your actions could lead to an involuntary manslaughter charge. Furthermore, providing medical treatment to a patient negligently, leading to his/her death, is another instance of when you can face charges of involuntary manslaughter.

  1. You Acted With Criminal Negligence

To convict you of involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors must show that not only did you act in a way that was criminally negligent, you showed a reckless indifference to human life. Acting with criminal negligence means that your conduct represented a gross deviation from how a reasonable person would have acted.

Criminal negligence means more than just being careless. It involves such a high degree of carelessness that you create a substantial risk of grave injury or death. This requires that you understand that you were creating a considerable risk through your conduct. Prosecutors must prove that your conduct was not just negligent but rose to a gross deviation from the expected standard of care associated with that activity and involved substantial and unjustifiable risk.

In proving criminal negligence, the prosecution must establish that:

  • Your conduct was reckless — Your behavior demonstrated that you were aware of or should have been aware of a substantial risk.

  • You should have known the risk was obvious — The risk of damage from what you did would have been evident to any reasonable person.

  • Your actions directly caused the death — There is a direct link between your criminally negligent conduct and the resulting fatality.

  1. Your Actions Resulted in the Death of Another Person

For you to be convicted of involuntary manslaughter, the prosecutor must be able to prove that the death of the victim was a probable, natural, and reasonably foreseeable consequence of your act or acts. These elements are used to establish a direct link between your actions and the victim’s death.

The prosecution has to show that death was a likely result of what you did. A person in your position would have known there was a good chance his/her conduct would have killed somebody. If your behavior created this risk, you satisfy this element.

Moreover, the state must prove that the death was a natural and foreseeable consequence of your conduct, such that it was not an unusual and unlikely outcome or result of your actions. In other words, it was what any reasonable person would expect to occur, given what you were doing.

Furthermore, it is incumbent on the prosecution to demonstrate that your actions indeed caused the death of the victim. They must draw a straight line between your conduct and the fatal outcome, correctly stating that nothing broke or interrupted this connection.

Involuntary Manslaughter Arising From Failure to Fulfill a Legal Obligation

Involuntary manslaughter also considers deaths in situations where legal obligations could or should have been met. You can be charged with involuntary manslaughter if you have a legal responsibility to act and fail to do so, and someone dies as a result.

When entrusted to care for another person, the law expects you to take reasonable steps to prevent harm. However, if you fail to fulfill this duty of care and someone dies due to your omission, the prosecution can contend that it was criminal negligence on your part.

In these instances, the prosecution must demonstrate not just that you had a legal duty and failed of your criminal negligence but also that this lack was an immediate cause of the victim’s death. It proves that an ordinary, reasonable individual would have seen the danger and done something to see if it did not lead to death.

Some of the relationships that impose this legal duty of care include the following:

  • Parenting — A parent has a legal responsibility to provide for the child. These are in the form of food, shelter, medical care, and protection from any form of harm.

  • Caregiver-dependent relationships — They offer necessary care to the elderly, disabled, or dependent persons. As a caregiver, you have a legal obligation to provide adequate care.

  • Doctor-patient relationships — Medical professionals, physicians, and other health care professionals should offer their clients quality care.

  • Employer-employee relationships — The law also requires employers to take all reasonable precautions to avoid exposing employees to risks. This consists of offering the employees a safe workplace and conforming to the laid safety measures.

Defenses Available in Involuntary Manslaughter Cases

You can challenge an involuntary manslaughter charge through several defenses. Here are some of the defenses your attorney could use:

  1. You Acted in Self-defense or Defense of Others

Your attorney could claim that you used force in self-defense or defense of others when contesting the involuntary manslaughter charges against you. This defense can be helpful if your actions that led to the victim’s death were to defend you or somebody else from harm. When asserting this defense, your attorney will first demonstrate that you were in real and imminent danger. They have to prove that you were threatened and that the threat was imminent, so you had to act to avert the perceived risk. However, your attorney has to convince the court that your response was reasonable given the threat. Given the dangers you faced, they must prove that your actions were proportional and not more than required.

Moreover, your attorney has to prove that you had an honest and reasonable belief in the need to use force. This belief has to be reasonable under the circumstances that you were in. If your belief in the need for defensive action was justified, it supports the argument that your actions were not criminally negligent.

  1. The Charges Were Based on a False Accusation

Occasionally, a flurry of activity that could inform your arrest could lead to charges being brought against you. Your attorney can leverage the wrongful arrest to dispute the involuntary manslaughter charges successfully.

When police or other law enforcement officers arrest you, they could rely on incomplete or inaccurate information, leading to wrong identification. A witness could fail to identify you correctly, an evaluation from a security camera may not be clear, or the evidence found could be misleading. In these circumstances, your attorney could convince the court that the charges have no merit since they were made based on misidentification.

When using this defense, your lawyer will gather evidence to prove your innocence. They will introduce alibi witnesses who can testify that you were elsewhere during the incident, provide video footage showing you were not at the crime scene, or provide forensic evidence to ascertain that the profile the state is relying on does not match your DNA profile. This evidence makes a strong case that you are not guilty.

Furthermore, your attorney will investigate the arrest procedure, considering procedural or bias mistakes that led to your wrongful arrest. They will examine whether the police handled the investigation appropriately, whether witnesses were coerced into pointing you out, or whether there were gaps or contradictions when you were apprehended as the culprit.

By raising these arguments, your attorney will create reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case against you. They will claim that the arrest and charges resulted from a rushed and flawed investigation. If you can prove that the charges leveled against you are due to a case of mistaking you for the culprit, then this significantly weakens the prosecution’s case and strengthens your side of the case.

Also, your attorney may have to call for expert witnesses to further the defense of your case. Eyewitness identification specialists can provide testimony about the possibility of misidentification inherent in witnesses’ testimony, given that it is given under stressful or unclear circumstances. Likewise, forensic experts can provide insights into the flaws or limitations of the physical evidence presented by the prosecution.

  1. The Killing Was an Accident

You can accept that you caused the victim’s death, but you did not intend to. It was an accident. Hence, the main objective that has to be targeted is establishing that the death was accidental and unforeseeable.

The jury must see that you responded in a manner that shows that you did not intend to cause any harm. Demonstrate that the actions you took were aimed at some other result and that it was unfortunate that the victim died.

You also have to address criminal negligence as asserted by the prosecutors. Involuntary manslaughter requires showing that your actions were a gross deviation from reasonable care. Your attorney could challenge this by showing that you were acting as a typical rational person would in the same situation. For instance, if the accident led to a fatality, your attorney can demonstrate that you followed safety protocols, but an error occurred, making it impossible to avert the tragedy.

Further, it is important to persuade the court that death was an unforeseeable consequence of your actions. You could present this particular eventuality as something you could not have foreseen. If death occurred due to an incident or some mishap, stress that it was not an incident that anyone could have predicted. For example, if an accidental death arose from a sudden medical condition, show that this was beyond anyone’s control.

  1. There Was No Causal Link Between Your Actions and the Victim’s Death

The state must prove that you were directly responsible for the death of the victim. Without this link, your attorney can rely on this missing link as a defense in your involuntary manslaughter case.

Prosecutors require concrete evidence to show that the death of the victim was a result of your conduct. They must prove that at the time of the incident, the death would not have happened if you had not acted in the manner in which you did. Where the prosecution had seemingly provided evidence to indicate that factors outside your control caused the death, your lawyer can explain how the prosecution has not proved this crucial ‘but-for’ causation link.

Your attorney will carefully review every detail to find any weakness in the prosecution’s case. He/she will scrutinize every aspect of the incident to identify anything that could be interpreted as a different cause of death for the victim. This way, your attorney will be able to come up with other causes that were outside your control, thus creating reasonable doubt that your actions led to death.

In support of this defense, your attorney could look for testimony from other professionals or witnesses, records from your doctor, and any other evidence showing the lack of a direct link.

Penalties for Involuntary Manslaughter

If you are convicted of involuntary manslaughter, you could be subjected to the following penalties:

  • Serve an imprisonment term of two, three, or four years in state prison. The appropriate length of this kind of sentence depends on the circumstances of the case and other previous records of similar offenses.

  • You may also be required to pay a fine of up to $10,000.

  • Probation — A judge could issue probation terms for you to serve instead of imprisonment. You have to comply with the probation terms or risk being imprisoned. These include:

    1. Meeting a probation officer.

    2. Community services.

    3. Attending counseling and rehabilitation programs, among others.

There are additional serious consequences of being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter other than fines and imprisonment. You will likely find it hard to secure a job, rental house, apartment, or other opportunities.

If you have a professional license, you could lose it if you are convicted of involuntary manslaughter. However, your licensing authority handles this separately.

Involuntary manslaughter is a strikeable offense under the provisions of the Three Strikes law. If convicted, you will receive a strike on your record, significantly affecting future convictions.

If you have a strike and commit another felony, the court doubles the term of the involuntary manslaughter conviction. Having two strikes on your record will result in you serving a mandatory penalty of twenty-five years to life in prison. Strikes on your record also reduce or eliminate chances of parole. This is disadvantageous because it complicates the issue of plea bargains and reduces your options in the criminal justice system.

Crimes Related to Involuntary Manslaughter

Crimes related to involuntary manslaughter include:

  • Penal Code 187 murder — This statute defines murder as killing a fellow being unlawfully, and with malice aforethought. While involuntary manslaughter does not involve intent to kill, murder has an intentional act or premeditation to the act.

  • Penal Code 192(a) voluntary manslaughter — This crime is the intentional causing of death under circumstances that provoke a reasonable person. Although the crime is committed intentionally, it is different from involuntary manslaughter since it is committed in the heat of passion or when a person is provoked.

  • Penal Code 192(c) involuntary vehicular manslaughter — This statute focuses on fatalities resulting from negligent drivers. It involves a fatality resulting from negligence while operating a vehicle.

Find a Manslaughter Defense Attorney Near Me

The severity of an involuntary manslaughter charge is evident in a conviction's penalties and long-term consequences. With a criminal record, your employment prospects and ability to secure credit or housing in the future are greatly affected. Thus, you need professional legal help to avoid all these harsh consequences. You should, therefore, hire a qualified defense attorney with significant experience with criminal law, especially involuntary manslaughter cases.

At Monterey Criminal Attorney, we focus on handling grave cases like involuntary manslaughter. With our legal knowledge and proven track record, we will effectively challenge the prosecution’s case and protect your rights. Do not leave your future to chance. Contact us today at 831-574-1791, and let us help you secure a favorable outcome.