Negligent Homicide Lawyers
Representing Clients Nationwide
Negligent homicide relates to a death which occurs due to someone else's failure to act. Charges of negligent homicide are most often filed in cases that involve elderly, handicapped or child victims. The Cochran Firm Criminal Defense attorneys fight hard to protect the rights of defendants who have been charged with negligent homicide or any other violent crime.
What is Negligent Homicide?
When a person dies as a result of someone else's failure to prevent the death, the resulting charge is negligent homicide. Often the accused is a caregiver to the person who has died and one or more of the following elements are present:
- The failure of the caregiver to provide proper care to a person under his care
- This failure either caused or led to the victim's death
- No malice was involved in the death of the victim
Another form of negligent homicide relates to the reckless operation of any type of motor vehicle. No matter what the action, or inaction, the result is the death of the victim. It doesn't matter whether the act was planned with malice or not. For this reason, negligent homicide is considered a lesser offense than murder.
Defending Charges of Negligent Homicide
The key factor in defending a client who has been charged with negligent homicide is to properly reconstruct the accident with the intention of proving that the accident was the other person's fault. It is also important to show that the defendant was not acting in a negligent or reckless manner.
Recklessness means that the defendant was aware of and consciously disregarded the risk that a dangerous circumstance existed. The risk must constitute a gross deviation from the actions a reasonable person would take under the given circumstances. Other methods of defending a negligent homicide charge include:
- Showing that the Miranda Rights of the accused were not properly administered.
- Showing whether any admission of guilt was voluntary or coerced
- Showing denial of right to counsel
- Showing that the causal chain linking negligence to death is flawed
- Showing that the reconstruction of the scene of an accident was incorrect
- Showing that the defendant acted in a reasonable fashion based on their knowledge at the time
In a vehicle-related negligent homicide, the defense may use the testimony of an engineer who can prove that the vehicle the defendant was driving was defective in some way. If speed was a factor in the accident, then it must be shown that the speed at which the defendant was traveling was not a "gross deviation from the norm."
If you have been charged with negligent homicide in any form, it is important that you speak with The Cochran Firm Criminal Defense attorneys to learn what your rights are and the best way to defend your case. Our teams are aggressive and thorough in their approach to defending any criminal charges. Please contact The Cochran Firm Criminal Defense attorneys today.
