Also known as: negligent homicides
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A criminal homicide that occurs when a person causes the death of another human being by failing to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death and that failure constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would observe under the circumstances.
Natalie Norris, the site foreman, knew maintenance checks on an aging crane had been skipped for weeks. She directed workers to resume lifting heavy steel beams anyway after a supervisor assured her there were no visible defects. The cable snapped and the boom collapsed onto the sidewalk, killing a passing pedestrian. Under the Model Penal Code framework the death is classified as negligent homicide because Norris's conduct met the required mental state.
Nalini Narula, a bus dispatcher, received a direct report that a driver had nearly fallen asleep after a double shift and that icy conditions were forecast. She ordered the driver to complete the overnight route anyway to avoid overtime costs. The bus later skidded on ice and overturned, killing a passenger. The evidence showed Narula failed to perceive the risk created by sending an exhausted driver onto icy roads.
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Noah Nakamura stabbed Nestor Navarro in the heart during an argument. Navarro lingered in the hospital for eleven months before dying from complications of the wound. Prosecutors proceeded under the state criminal homicide statute. The court rejected the year-and-a-day rule and permitted the case to proceed on the existing charge.
Naveen Nanda, a loss-prevention officer, tackled a suspected shoplifter and stomped repeatedly on the teenager's chest without first attempting verbal commands. The victim suffered fatal internal injuries. Nanda later claimed he believed the situation was routine and did not perceive the risk of death. The evidence supported a conviction for negligent homicide rather than a higher mental-state offense.
Negligent homicide requires only that the defendant should have been aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death, whereas manslaughter requires conscious disregard of that risk. The distinction turns on whether the actor actually perceived the danger.
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Negligent homicide is classified as a felony of the third degree.
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A negligent homicide instruction is proper only when the evidence would permit a jury to find that the defendant failed to perceive the risk rather than consciously disregarded it. When the undisputed facts show the defendant was aware of the danger, the lesser instruction is not required.
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Contributory negligence does not itself afford a defense, though it may be relevant to whether the defendant's conduct was a proximate cause of the death.
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…unlawful killing of another person which may be first degree murder, second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide or vehicular homicide." Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-201 (1997). Petitioner appealed his conviction to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, arguing that, despite its absence from the…