Involuntary Manslaughter Defenses – California Penal Code Section 192(b)

There are a number of different defenses that may be raised to overcome involuntary manslaughter allegations. An experienced criminal defense attorney can raise certain defenses depending on the particular facts of your case. If the arguments are successfully presented, the charges against you may be dismissed or at least reduced to a less serious offense.

Self-Defense

By claiming this defense, your attorney asserts that you cannot be guilty of involuntary manslaughter because you were forced to act in self-preservation. As stated in California Penal Code Section 197(3), self-defense can justify a killing if your action was a reasonable response under the circumstances and that you acted in good-faith. This requires that you reasonably believed that you were in imminent danger of being killed, that you believed that immediate force was necessary to avoid the danger, and that you used no more force than necessary to defend against the danger.

You cannot claim self-defense, for example, if you fatally shoot someone with a gun when you easily could have run away. Under these circumstances, your decision to use deadly force cannot be justified because you had the more reasonable option to flee.

Defense of Others

California Penal Code Section 197(3) also states that if you kill a person while lawfully defending another person (e.g., wife, husband, child, parent, servant, etc.) against death or severe harm, that killing is a justifiable homicide. If the killing is deemed justifiable, the involuntary manslaughter charge may be dismissed. Much like self-defense, this defense requires that you acted reasonably and in good-faith.

Accident

Your attorney may be able to claim that you lacked the malicious intent to kill if it can be shown that the death was the result of an accident. This defense requires a showing that you were engaged in a lawful activity, using ordinary caution, and that you had no unlawful intent. You may still be prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter if the accidental killing was the result of your reckless disregard of the safety of others.

Defense Against Harm to Self or Others Within Own Home

You cannot be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter if you killed a person in self-defense or the defense of others while in your own home or property. In order to raise this defense, you must have reasonably believed that you were defending your home against an intruder who had an intent to commit violent acts against your or your family within the home. There must have been a present danger of death or serious injury, and that the use of deadly force (e.g. a gun) was reasonable under the circumstances.

Citizen Arrest (By Non-peace Officer)

If you killed a person while lawfully trying to arrest or detain that person for committing a crime that threatened death or great bodily injury, that killing may be justified, and therefore not unlawful. It requires, however, that you had reason to believe that the person you killed had committed the serious crime, that the person posed a threat of serious bodily injury to you, and that the killing was necessary to prevent escape.

Preserving the Peace (By Non-peace Officer)

A killing of a human being is justified if done to preserve the peace. You are not guilty of murder if you committed the killing while lawfully trying to suppress a riot or preserving the peace. To qualify for this justification, you must also have had a reasonable belief that the person you killed posed a threat of serious bodily harm to you or others, and the killing was reasonable and necessary under the circumstances.

Conduct of the Defendant was Reasonable

A charge for involuntary manslaughter arises when you engage in one of two types of acts: any crime that does not rise to the level of a felony and a lawful act that was committed in a criminally negligent way. You cannot be guilty of involuntary manslaughter if your actions do not constitute a crime. If involuntary manslaughter is charged on the grounds that you were criminally negligent in the way you engaged in an otherwise lawful act, a criminal defense attorney can argue the reasonableness of your conduct. If it is shown that you conducted yourself in a way that any reasonable person would have in the same situation, you cannot be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.