Criminally Negligent Homicide

Question: What can happen if I was charged with criminally negligent homicide?

Answer:

If you’re charged with criminally negligent homicide in Texas, you have to be careful because it is kind of a slippery slope. You can be charged for that crime for basically negligent behavior. An example might be you’re speeding and you’re on your cell phone texting, and you get in a wreck. You could conceivably be charged with criminally negligent homicide. When you think of it, that charge is where you are undertaking some action that a reasonably prudent person ought to have known that there was an unreasonable risk of harm or death. It’s one of those offenses that is discretionary for the prosecutor. There are some offenses that are cut and dry. On a theft, did you take the item with intent to steal and walk out of the store? Did you possess the drug; yes or no? Some are much clearer cut. With criminally negligent homicide, you have to get into the mindset. You get into the what a reasonable person is, and if they should have known. I think today a lot of people talk on their cell phones, and I think that people would say that doesn’t have that high-degree of risk that would warrant a charge. However, some prosecutor may disagree with that and say, you’re on your cell phone, driving down the highway, that’s criminally negligent homicide if you get in a wreck and kill somebody.

You can see where there’s no cut standards that are clearly out of bounds or in-bounds. There are some that are clearly out of bounds. If you’re driving 120 miles an hour, it’s at night, and you shut your lights off to evade the police, well, that’s pretty clearly criminally negligent homicide. However, if you are going 20 miles over the speed limit, not on your phone, I would argue that it is not criminally negligent homicide, but somebody else may disagree. You need to get a lawyer, because the fact is that those offenses are not clear cut and very often you can convince a prosecutor that the person is overcharged.