Also known as: depraved indifference · depraved heart · reckless indifference
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life that constitutes implied malice for murder. The mental state requires a degree of risk and callousness exceeding the criminal recklessness sufficient for involuntary manslaughter.
Jordan, the manager of a downtown hotel, knows the rooftop pool deck has a low railing and no lifeguard. To boost business, he convinces the hotel corporation to host late-night open-bar parties there. At one such event, a heavily intoxicated guest leans over the edge, falls several stories, and dies. Jordan is prosecuted for homicide at common law.
Declan directs employees to disable critical safety sensors on a production line to meet a rush order. An unexpected power fluctuation causes equipment to overheat, resulting in severe damage and a hand injury to employee Rita. Apex Manufacturing LLC sues Declan for the losses.
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A trust instrument contains a clause relieving the trustee of liability for breach of trust committed with reckless indifference to the purposes of the trust or the interests of the beneficiaries. The trustee later diverts trust assets in a manner that ignores those purposes.
Malik, head of loss prevention, confronts a suspected shoplifter in a stockroom and repeatedly kicks the prone teenager in the torso with steel-toed boots while shouting that he will teach him a lesson. The teenager suffers massive internal injuries and dies.
A seller makes a statement about property condition that is literally true so far as it goes but knows it is materially misleading because of omitted facts. The buyer relies on the statement and suffers loss.
Goetz carries a loaded handgun on the subway. When four youths approach him and one asks for five dollars, Goetz draws the weapon and fires multiple shots, wounding all four. He later claims he acted in self-defense.
Depraved indifference requires reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life, a higher degree of risk and callousness than the criminal recklessness or negligence sufficient for involuntary manslaughter.
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A reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life, often described as acting with an abandoned and malignant heart, constitutes a form of implied malice.
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Yes. The mental state supplies implied malice for common law murder when the defendant acts with reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life.
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…481 U. S. 137, 154, 158 (1987), upheld a state law authorizing capital punishment for major participation in a felony with reckless indifference to life where only 11 of the 37 death penalty States (30%) prohibited such punishment. Stanford , 492 U. S., at 372, upheld a state law permitting execution of defendants who committed a…