Homicide: murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide

Professor Desjardins investigated eleven homicides during his years in major crimes, and he tells the class that no two were alike. One was a planned killing over a drug debt. One was a husband who killed his wife after years of abuse that the police had been called about four times. One was a single punch outside a bar, after which a 22-year-old fell, struck his head on the curb and never woke up. One was a contractor who removed a trench support to save time, killing a worker when the wall collapsed. All of them ended a life, and all were homicides in law, but they led to very different charges, from aggravated murder to reckless homicide. The difference lies almost entirely in the mental state of the accused and the circumstances of the killing. This lesson sets out the ladder of homicide offenses, which officers must understand from the first minutes at a death scene.

Homicide and culpable homicide

The Model Penal Code defines criminal homicide as purposely, knowingly, recklessly or negligently causing the death of another human being, and grades it as murder, manslaughter or negligent homicide. Ohio's homicide chapter, R.C. 2903, has more steps: aggravated murder, murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, negligent homicide and several vehicular homicide offenses. Each is defined by a combination of the culpable mental state and the circumstances, so the grading follows the ladder of mental states from lesson 4. A death caused by lawful self-defense, a pure accident or an act with no culpable mental state is not a crime. Every homicide charge requires proof that the defendant's conduct was a cause of death, using the but-for and proximate cause principles of lesson 4.

Murder

Ohio's murder statute, R.C. 2903.02, has two main divisions. Division (A) says no person shall purposely cause the death of another. Division (B), Ohio's felony murder rule, says no person shall cause the death of another as a proximate result of the offender's committing or attempting to commit an offense of violence that is a felony of the first or second degree, other than voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. Under division (B), the state does not have to prove that the defendant intended to kill, only that he or she committed the underlying violent felony, such as felonious assault, and that the death was its proximate result. Murder is punished by an indefinite term of fifteen years to life. The Model Penal Code defines murder more broadly, to include killing purposely, knowingly, or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, which covers acts such as firing into a crowded room.

Aggravated murder, R.C. 2903.01, is Ohio's most serious offense. It includes purposely causing death with prior calculation and design; purposely causing death while committing or fleeing after listed felonies, such as kidnapping, rape, aggravated arson, arson, aggravated robbery, robbery, aggravated burglary, burglary, terrorism and escape; purposely causing the death of a child under thirteen; and purposely causing the death of a law enforcement officer whom the offender knew or had reasonable cause to know was an officer performing official duties, or whose death the offender intended. Prior calculation and design requires more than a momentary decision; Ohio courts look at whether the accused and victim knew each other, whether thought or preparation went into choosing the weapon or the site, and whether the act was drawn out or an almost instantaneous eruption of events. Aggravated murder is punishable by life imprisonment, with or without parole eligibility, or by death if specified aggravating circumstances are proved, though no execution has been carried out in Ohio since 2018 and the governor has repeatedly issued reprieves.

Manslaughter and provocation

Ohio's voluntary manslaughter, R.C. 2903.03, is knowingly causing the death of another while under the influence of sudden passion or in a sudden fit of rage, brought on by serious provocation by the victim that is reasonably sufficient to incite the person into using deadly force; it is a felony of the first degree. Ohio courts apply a two-part test: the provocation must be sufficient to arouse the passions of an ordinary person beyond the power of his or her control, and the accused must actually have been under that passion, without time to cool off. Words alone usually do not qualify. Involuntary manslaughter, R.C. 2903.04, is causing death as a proximate result of committing or attempting a felony, which is a felony of the first degree, or a misdemeanor or minor misdemeanor, which is a felony of the third degree. A fatal punch in a fight can be involuntary manslaughter because assault is a misdemeanor; a death resulting from a drug sale can be involuntary manslaughter because trafficking is a felony. The Model Penal Code's manslaughter covers reckless killings and killings under extreme mental or emotional disturbance for which there is a reasonable explanation or excuse.

Reckless, negligent and vehicular homicide

Reckless homicide, R.C. 2903.041, is recklessly causing the death of another, a felony of the third degree. Negligent homicide, R.C. 2903.05, is negligently causing the death of another by means of a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance, a first-degree misdemeanor. Vehicular homicide offenses in R.C. 2903.06 range from vehicular manslaughter, a misdemeanor, to aggravated vehicular homicide, a felony of the first or second degree, which applies to a driver who causes death while impaired, under the OVI statute, or recklessly. A death at work caused by recklessly ignored safety rules can be prosecuted as reckless homicide or involuntary manslaughter, and federal law separately punishes willful violations of occupational safety standards that cause death.

The first hour at a death scene

Homicide investigations are run by major crime units, but the first officers at a scene make decisions that can determine the outcome. Their priorities are, in order: preserve life, by giving first aid and calling paramedics even when a person appears dead, unless death is obvious; ensure safety, by locating any suspect and securing weapons; identify and separate witnesses, and note what each says spontaneously; secure the scene with a perimeter larger than seems necessary, a single entry path and a scene log recording everyone who enters; and notify supervisors, investigators and the county coroner or medical examiner, who has authority over the body and determines the cause and manner of death. The officers should not touch, move or clean anything they do not have to, and should record anything they had to disturb to save life.

Many of the facts that separate murder from manslaughter are captured in these first minutes or lost forever. What the suspect says spontaneously, before any questioning, may reveal intent or provocation. Whether the suspect appeared intoxicated affects the analysis of intent, as lesson 11 explains. The position of the body, the location of weapons and the condition of the scene help show whether there was a struggle, whether the killing was sudden or prolonged and whether anyone tried to help. Prior calculation and design is often proved by evidence found later, such as searches, purchases and messages, but the officers who first arrive set the stage by preserving everything. Professor Desjardins says that the best thing a first officer can do is to treat every unexplained death as a homicide until a pathologist says otherwise; it is easy to relax a scene later, but impossible to recover what was lost.

The code below represents the first questions a prosecutor asks when reviewing a homicide file, in order. Priya notes that it is a decision tree, and that each branch corresponds to a fact that must be proved with evidence.

# Which homicide charge do the facts support? (Ohio R.C. 2903, simplified)
def charge(f):
    if not f["caused_death"]:
        return "no homicide charge"
    if f["purpose_to_kill"]:
        if f["sudden_passion_serious_provocation"]:
            return "voluntary manslaughter, R.C. 2903.03 (F1)"
        if f["prior_calculation_and_design"] or f["listed_circumstance"]:
            return "aggravated murder, R.C. 2903.01"
        return "murder, R.C. 2903.02(A)"
    if f["violent_felony_f1_f2"]:
        return "murder (felony murder), R.C. 2903.02(B)"
    if f["other_felony"]:
        return "involuntary manslaughter, R.C. 2903.04(A) (F1)"
    if f["misdemeanor"]:
        return "involuntary manslaughter, R.C. 2903.04(B) (F3)"
    if f["reckless"]:
        return "reckless homicide, R.C. 2903.041 (F3)"
    return "not a criminal homicide"
base = dict(caused_death=True, purpose_to_kill=False, sudden_passion_serious_provocation=False,
            prior_calculation_and_design=False, listed_circumstance=False, violent_felony_f1_f2=False,
            other_felony=False, misdemeanor=False, reckless=False)
files = {
    "drug debt killing after buying a gun": {"purpose_to_kill": True, "prior_calculation_and_design": True},
    "repeated stabbing in a sudden fight": {"purpose_to_kill": True},
    "beating with a bat (felonious assault)": {"violent_felony_f1_f2": True},
    "fentanyl sale, buyer died": {"other_felony": True},
    "single punch, fatal fall on curb": {"misdemeanor": True},
    "trench support removed, worker killed": {"reckless": True},
}
for name, facts in files.items():
    print(f"{name:40s} -> {charge({**base, **facts})}")

drug debt killing after buying a gun     -> aggravated murder, R.C. 2903.01
repeated stabbing in a sudden fight      -> murder, R.C. 2903.02(A)
beating with a bat (felonious assault)   -> murder (felony murder), R.C. 2903.02(B)
fentanyl sale, buyer died                -> involuntary manslaughter, R.C. 2903.04(A) (F1)
single punch, fatal fall on curb         -> involuntary manslaughter, R.C. 2903.04(B) (F3)
trench support removed, worker killed    -> reckless homicide, R.C. 2903.041 (F3)

Each line of the output depends on evidence of mental state and circumstances, which is why homicide investigations focus so heavily on what the accused said, did and planned. The single punch becomes a homicide because assault is a misdemeanor, and the beating with a bat becomes murder under the felony murder rule because felonious assault is a second-degree violent felony, even without proof of an intent to kill.