Involuntary Manslaughter: A Recent Case and a Quick Review

In a recent case, State v. Fisher, the NC Court of Appeals upheld an involuntary manslaughter based on the defendant’s act of dumping an intoxicated and injured victim, alive but partially clothed, outside in a remote area and in freezing weather and then lying about the victim’s whereabouts. When I sent a summary of the case out on my listserv I got a few questions about it and about involuntary manslaughter in general. In NC, involuntary manslaughter is a common law offense that’s punished as a Class F felony. G.S. 14-18. A key feature of the crime is that it involves an unintentional killing. State v. Fritsch, 351 N.C. 373, 380 (2000). The offense has three elements; a person guilty of this offense: (1) kills (2) another living human being (3) (a) by an unlawful act that does not amount to a felony and is not ordinarily dangerous to life or (b) by a culpably negligent act or omission. Elements (1) and (2) are probably well understood by most blog readers. Element (3) merits a little explanation. Elements (3)(a) and (b) are alternative ways of establishing involuntary manslaughter. An example of an act covered by Element (3)(a) is a slap to the head (simple assault, a misdemeanor) of a victim who dies as a result of the contact. Element (3)(b) covers culpably negligent acts or omissions. I previously discussed criminal negligence in a post here. Briefly, criminal negligence means a carelessness or recklessness showing a thoughtless disregard of consequences or a [...]