Legal Definitions - second-degree manslaughter

Second-degree manslaughter refers to an unintentional killing that occurs due to someone's reckless or grossly negligent actions, or while they are committing a misdemeanor or other unlawful act that is not a serious felony.

Crucially, there is no intent to kill or cause serious bodily harm. Instead, the death is a tragic and unforeseen consequence of the perpetrator's dangerous disregard for human life or safety, or their involvement in a lesser unlawful act.

Here are some examples illustrating second-degree manslaughter:

• Consider a situation where a driver, heavily distracted by their phone, speeds through a residential area, ignoring stop signs. They collide with another vehicle, resulting in the death of the other driver. The distracted driver did not intend to kill anyone, but their extremely reckless behavior behind the wheel directly led to a fatality.

  This illustrates second-degree manslaughter because the death was unintentional but resulted from the driver's gross negligence and reckless disregard for traffic laws and the safety of others.

• Imagine a homeowner who keeps a loaded handgun unsecured on a bedside table in a house where young children frequently visit. One day, a visiting child finds the gun, plays with it, and accidentally fires it, killing another child. The homeowner had no intention for any harm to come to the children.

  This demonstrates second-degree manslaughter because the homeowner's extreme negligence in securing a dangerous weapon, knowing children were present, created a highly dangerous situation that foreseeably led to an unintentional death.

• Suppose two individuals get into a heated argument at a bar. One person shoves the other, causing them to fall backward, hit their head on the concrete floor, and die from the injury. The shove itself might be considered a misdemeanor assault or battery, not intended to be fatal.

  This is an example of second-degree manslaughter because an unlawful act (the shove, a misdemeanor) directly resulted in an unintentional death, without the perpetrator having planned or intended to kill the victim.