I have received a few questions about if and why someone could charged with homicide when the death they caused was some kind of accident. The answer can be complex and there are a number of factors that will come into play. The underlying question that will have to be answered is, was the suspect acting recklessly?
Acting in a reckless way is defined by the Webster dictionary as being careless of the consequences. Meaning that a person knows what they are doing has the potential to do some harm. Yet they take the gamble and do what they are doing anyhow knowing the odds are that something bad will happen. As I often times say someone is “Being Stupid in a No Stupid Zone”.
The Fire Law blog has an interesting post about this topic. The case involves the building of a wooden fireplace to be used as a prop on a television show set. Building codes for the area said that even prop fireplaces had to be fire resistant (as in not made out of wood). That prop started on fire, and that fire grew in size to require calling the local fire department. Sadly a firefighter was killed fighting that fire. Now the person responsible for the design and building of this prop is facing Manslaughter charges.
Manslaughter and murder are both froms of homicide. Manslaughter is different from murder based on the intent of the suspect. In murder the suspects wants or intents to kill. In manslaughter the suspects is not looking to take a life but their actions do cause a person to die.
A fireplace made out of wood is very likely going to start on fire. Just like driving recklessly is likely to cause a crash. Similar to discharging a firearm (someplace other than a shooting range) runs risk of a bullette hitting someone. The list of stupid things people do can go on and on…
So we can say it is not just bad luck that got someone killed by “accident”. No someone intentionally did something they know to be dangerous (reckless). By taking that reckless action they directly kicked off the chain of events that lead to someone else dying. This is how something that was “just an accident” can lead to homicide charges.
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