Also known as: grave risk of death · reckless endangerment · depraved-heart
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
An elevated level of danger created by a defendant's gross deviation from the reasonable-person standard of care. This risk supports a finding of criminal negligence sufficient for involuntary manslaughter.
A statutory aggravating circumstance in capital sentencing that exists when the defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to many persons.
An elevated level of danger created by a defendant's gross deviation from the reasonable-person standard of care. This risk supports a finding of criminal negligence sufficient for involuntary manslaughter.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A statutory aggravating circumstance in capital sentencing that exists when the defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to many persons.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Yasmine authorized a low-altitude drone flight over a residential area despite knowing the emergency software was incomplete. The drone lost control and struck a runner, causing death. The authorization created a great risk of death that a jury could find amounted to criminal negligence supporting involuntary manslaughter.
The risk and indifference required for involuntary manslaughter are lower than those needed for depraved-heart murder. A gross deviation creating a high risk of death or serious bodily harm supports manslaughter but does not reach the extreme recklessness showing a depraved heart.
Supporting sources
A defendant stood in a church and fired a gun indiscriminately into the audience. Multiple parishioners were killed or wounded. The conduct knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person and supported an aggravating circumstance for capital sentencing.
The defendant fired repeatedly inside a crowded church during services. Several worshippers suffered fatal wounds. Georgia courts treated the shooting as creating a great risk of death to more than one person, satisfying the statutory aggravating circumstance.
Enmund participated in an armed robbery of a rural home. The robbery resulted in the deaths of two occupants. The Court examined whether his role created a great risk of death sufficient to support the death penalty under the Eighth Amendment.
Ring and accomplices killed several victims during a jewelry-store robbery. The prosecution relied on the fact that the crimes knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person as an aggravating factor for capital sentencing.
Lockett and accomplices invaded a store and killed multiple employees during a robbery. The jury considered whether the defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person when deciding whether to impose the death penalty.
The prosecution must show the defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person in a public place by means of a weapon or device normally hazardous to multiple lives. Courts have upheld the factor when a defendant fired indiscriminately into a crowd.
Supporting sources
No. The factor focuses on the risk knowingly created rather than the number of deaths that result. A defendant who endangers multiple lives with a hazardous device satisfies the circumstance even if fewer deaths occur than the risk suggested.
Supporting sources
Yes. Courts have considered the factor in cases involving accomplices who participated in crimes that created a great risk of death to multiple victims, though the Eighth Amendment limits death eligibility for certain non-triggerman participants.
…clear and objective standards.' " Second, the petitioner points to § 27-2534.1 (b) (3) which speaks of creating a "great risk of death to more than one person." While such a phrase might be susceptible of an overly broad interpretation, the Supreme Court of Georgia has not so construed it. The only case in which the court…