Murder is obviously one of the most serious crimes there is, and penalties for murder in Utah can include life without parole or even the death penalty. Manslaughter is close behind, and its penalties can also be quite severe – but definitely lower.
If you are being accused of killing someone, our lawyers should be involved immediately to help reduce murder charges to manslaughter where appropriate. We can also fight aggravated murder charges and seek to get them reduced as well. We can also, of course, challenge the case against you and seek to get the charges dropped or dismissed entirely.
Call Overson Law today at (801) 758-2287 for a free case review with our murder and manslaughter attorneys.
The Difference Between Murder and Manslaughter in Layton, UT
Killing someone is obviously illegal in most cases, but the specific charge you face for the death can vary greatly. Utah Code § 76-5-201 actually lists seven different types of “criminal homicide” charges that our murder and manslaughter attorneys can help with. “Murder” and “manslaughter” only account for three of these charges.
First, murder is the crime of intentionally killing someone else. There is no requirement that you had a plan, and there is no distinction between whether it was done suddenly or after “premeditation”; the crime is defined as “murder” either way.
However, murder can be upgraded to “aggravated murder” under various circumstances that make an intentional killing more “serious” by lawmakers’ standards.
On the other hand, manslaughter is a “reckless” killing, but there are some other specific ways manslaughter can be charged. You can also potentially claim manslaughter as a defense to murder charges, saying that what you did should not be murder but manslaughter instead.
Types of Murder Charges in Layton, UT
The standard “murder” charge under Utah Code § 76-5-203 is what we might often call “second-degree murder” or “murder 2.” In the standard setup, an intentional killing is often called second-degree murder, while a planned/premeditated killing is called “first-degree murder.” Third-degree murder is actually a separate crime of “felony murder,” where someone is killed during the commission of a felony, and “the felony murder rule” allows all participants to be charged with murder.
In many cases, committing acts that you know to be incredibly dangerous and likely to kill – i.e., had an extreme risk of death – can also be charged as murder. This essentially stretches the definition of “knowingly” – the alternative mental state to “intentional,” which is also included in the text of the statute. When a killing is done with more than recklessness, or you committed aggravated assault and the person died, that often is charged as murder as well.
Murder can also be charged for some reckless killings where the victim is a police officer or other protected classes of people. Even though reckless killings would be manslaughter, these crimes are upgraded because of the person killed.
Aggravated murder is charged under § 76-5-202 if you killed someone while in jail, killed or attempted to kill more than one person, created a risk of death to others, killed while committing other listed crimes, killed someone while hiding another body or trying to prevent an arrest, killed for money, or paid someone to kill. You can also face aggravated murder charges if you have certain previous convictions. Killing to silence a witness or otherwise interfere with another court case is also aggravated murder.
How the murder was committed and who the victim was can also upgrade the crime to aggravated murder. For example, use of a bomb or explosive, WMD, airplane/train, or poison makes the crime aggravated, as does killing police officers or other protected people. The crime also upgrades if the victim was a minor under 14, if the actor mutilates the corpse, or if the death occurs during certain crimes, such as kidnapping or rape of a child.
Types of Manslaughter Charges in Layton, UT
Manslaughter can similarly be charged in a few different ways under different circumstances listed in § 76-5-205.
As mentioned, the standard manslaughter crime is a death caused by recklessness. This means that the actor knew there was a danger but proceeded anyway. This is a lower mental state requirement than the extreme risk of death situation discussed above for murder charges.
Alternatively, manslaughter can also be charged when the actor helps the victim commit suicide. There are specific carve-outs in the statute that protect doctors giving palliative care from these “assisted suicide” manslaughter charges.
Any lower mental state – such as recklessness – is usually charged as a different type of homicide, such as “negligent homicide” or “automobile homicide.”
Manslaughter as a Defense to Murder in Layton, UT
One common way that manslaughter convictions happen is when the defendant was charged with murder but uses various “affirmative defenses” – called “special mitigation” under Utah Law. In these cases, the defendant admits to the killing but says that it happened under circumstances that make them less culpable, allowing the jury to find them guilty of manslaughter instead of murder.
The classic situation this occurs in is with “provocation.” Provocation means that there are circumstances that put the actor under “extreme emotional distress,” thus making it more understandable that they killed the victim. This does not excuse the killing, but it reduces the charges to manslaughter. The classic example of this is walking in on one’s spouse in bed with someone else and killing them.
Similarly, some kind of mental condition or delusion could also push someone to kill. Lastly, a defendant who thought they had a legal justification – such as self-defense – can have murder/attempted murder charges reduced to manslaughter/attempted manslaughter. These issues are very fact-sensitive and often involve things like mistaking a family member sneaking in late for a burglar or mistaking something in someone’s hand for a gun and shooting them.
In any case, what happened must be “reasonable” from an objective perspective to qualify as a defense.
Call Our Murder and Manslaughter Lawyers Today
Call Overson Law at (801) 758-2287 for a free case assessment with our murder and manslaughter attorneys today.
