Manslaughter is an incredibly serious crime, but it carries lighter penalties than murder charges. If you have the choice between being charged with murder and manslaughter, having your case reduced to manslaughter is often a huge reprieve. However, being acquitted is even better.
Our lawyers can help you defend against manslaughter charges and potentially use Utah’s laws surrounding manslaughter to plead down murder charges. We can also seek to have the charges reduced or try to reach an acquittal at trial. Our lawyers can also help with other parts of your case, such as fighting for bail release and appealing any rulings that might be unfair.
For a free review of your case, call our manslaughter attorneys at Overson Law today at (801) 758-2287.
What Constitutes Manslaughter in Millcreek, UT?
Manslaughter is a particular type of homicide – the broader umbrella term used for all types of illegal killings. Certainly, there are “legal” killings that are not crimes at all, such as deaths that occur in an accident. However, with any killing involving a higher mental state – and thus a higher degree of fault – there are criminal charges broken down by the mental state required.
Under Utah Code § 76-5-201, we actually have seven types of homicide, two of which require intentional/knowing killing (murder and aggravated murder), two of which involve death during a form of assault (child abuse homicide and homicide by assault), and two of which involve criminal negligence (negligent homicide and automobile homicide). The last type of homicide is manslaughter, which usually requires “recklessness.” However, there are some blurred lines where some “murder” charges can be filed for reckless killings of police, for example.
Under § 76-5-205, subsection (2)(a) defines manslaughter as reckless killing. Alternatively, subsection (2)(b) also calls it manslaughter when someone intentionally helps someone commit suicide.
The last way that manslaughter can be charged is under subsection (2)(c), which covers homicides (i.e., illegal killings) that would have been murder but faced some kind of reduction. Manslaughter can also similarly be used as a defense to murder charges, giving defendants the option of admitting to the killing but saying that it happened under some kind of mental lapse or serious provocation that reduced your culpability. Here, the killing is not truly intentional because you did not “mean to” kill the person, but it also does not fit into the other types of homicide, leaving manslaughter as the best fit.
Defenses to Manslaughter Charges in Millcreek UT
If you are charged with murder, then claiming it was actually manslaughter might be an available defense. This can help reduce the penalties and potentially turn a life sentence into one that allows release within 1-15 years. However, when you are charged with manslaughter from the beginning, the defenses need to shift:
Challenging the Mental State
Our manslaughter attorneys can challenge the manslaughter charges by attacking the mental state required. As manslaughter requires “recklessness,” a killing that was criminally negligent should not count. Moreover, if it was “mere” negligence rather than criminal negligence, it should not be a crime at all in most cases.
The distinction between recklessness and negligence is often whether or not the actor should have been aware of the danger. Doing something you know is dangerous is often reckless, but doing something and merely making a mistake or doing something you honestly did not know could be so dangerous would make it negligence instead of recklessness.
Additionally, if the defendant’s mental state was impaired by drugs or sleep deprivation, it is possible what they did was totally involuntary, making even manslaughter charges hard to prove. However, voluntary drug use often is not a defense.
Self-Defense
Some manslaughter charges come under cases of “imperfect self-defense.” There, the defendant believed at the time that they were reasonably defending themselves, even though the circumstances were not what they thought. Think, for example, of shooting a member of your household that you unreasonably thought was a burglar breaking in or stabbing someone that you thought was holding a knife when it was actually a pen and not dangerous.
In cases like these, manslaughter is appropriately charged. If, instead, the prosecution is wrong about the facts and you truly were acting in self-defense, then charges should be dismissed instead. For example, if that household member was actually burglarizing your house or someone was truly assaulting you with a pen, then self-defense might have been appropriate, no matter how strange the circumstances.
Challenging Evidence
Police and prosecutors can often interpret the evidence they have to tell whatever story they want it to tell. Sometimes, this interpretation is flat-out wrong, and only the people who were actually involved in the altercation know what truly happened: you and the deceased. Even so, it usually is not in your best interest to get on the stand in your own defense and explain what is wrong with their story. Instead, our best strategy is often to take away the prosecution’s evidence.
Hearsay, irrelevant evidence, prejudicial statements and stereotypes, and other unfair testimony and evidence can often be excluded from criminal cases, making it harder for the prosecution to paint the picture they want to paint. For example, evidence that you own weapons or play violent video games might have little to no bearing on your actual danger or whether you committed this alleged crime, potentially allowing us to block such evidence from being used against you in your case.
Appealing Unjust Evidence
In many criminal cases, the initial defense fails to get the case dismissed, but incorrect legal decisions and new information about your case might get the initial conviction overturned, allowing us a second chance at your defense. For example, many cases are overturned and given a new trial because the judge made an improper ruling about the admissibility of important evidence. Other times, it comes out after the case that a prosecution witness was paid or threatened or offered something in exchange for their testimony, and failing to disclose that before trial is a violation of your rights. Though we still need to win a new trial, getting a “second bite at the apple” can often make your case easier on retrial.
Call Our Manslaughter Defense Lawyers in Millcreek, UT Today
Reach out to Overson Law’s manslaughter attorneys right away for a free case review by calling (801) 758-2287.
