CR24-251 01/10/06

INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER -- 13 V.S.A. § 2304 (and common law)

The State has charged (Def)_______________ with involuntary manslaughter, as follows:

[Read the charge.]

Involuntary manslaughter is an unlawful killing of another human being, done with no intent to take human life. It is an unintentional killing where the person acts with criminal negligence by failing to perceive the risk of death or serious bodily injury.

Every crime is made up of essential elements. Before (Def)_______________ can be found guilty of the charge, the State must have proven each of the essential elements beyond a reasonable doubt. In this case, the essential elements are that on the date and at the place alleged,

(1) (Def)_______________;

(2) caused the death of (victim)_______________;

(3) the killing was unlawful; and

(4) in causing the death of (victim)_______________, (Def)_______________ acted with criminal negligence.

The first essential element is that (Def)_______________ is the person who committed the alleged acts.

The second essential element is that (Def)_______________ caused the death of (victim)_______________. The State must have proven that (Def)_______________’s acts produced (victim)_______________’s death in a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause. [An efficient intervening cause would be an unexpected, independent force that broke the connection between (Def)_______________’s acts and (victim)_______________’s death.] You must conclude that (victim)_______________’s life ended by means other than natural causes, accident, or suicide. You must also conclude that, but for (Def)_______________’s acts, (victim)_______________’s death would not have occurred.

Here the State alleges that (Def)_______________ caused the death of (victim)_______________ by (specific acts)_________________________.

The third essential element is that the killing was unlawful. The term unlawful killing means that (victim)_______________ was killed without legal excuse or legal justification. Legal excuse or justification ordinarily refers to such things as self-defense or legal necessity. [A killing may be justified where a person acts in self-defense, or in defense of another, or in trying to stop another person attempting to commit certain violent felonies. Here, the State must have proven that (Def)_______________ did not act in self-defense, or in defense of another, or in trying to stop another person attempting to commit (felony)_______________ with force or violence.]

The last essential element is that, in causing the death of (victim)_______________, (Def)_______________ acted with criminal negligence. Criminal negligence means something more than ordinary carelessness. It means that (Def)_______________ disregarded a risk of death to such a degree that [his] [her] failure to perceive it, given the circumstances, involved a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would have exercised in the same situation. In determining (Def)_______________’s state of mind, you should consider all of the surrounding facts and circumstances established by the evidence.

Here the State alleges that (Def)_______________ acted with criminal negligence by (specific acts)____________________.

All of the elements of the offense must have been present at the same time. If the State has not proven each of the essential elements of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt, then you must find (Def)_______________ not guilty. However, if the State has proven all of the essential elements beyond a reasonable doubt, you must return a verdict of guilty.