Involuntary manslaughter - UAM Flashcards
What is involuntary manslaughter?
Involuntary manslaughter occurs when death occurs but the D does not have intention for death or serious injury
What is unlawful act manslaughter?
Unlawful act manslaughter is an offence which occurs when the D committed an unlawful act (separate criminal offence) that caused the death of the victim
What is the actus reus for UAM?
D must commit an unlawful act, the unlawful act is dangerous and caused the death of the victim.
Outline the 1st element of the AR
Defendant committed a separate criminal offence (cannot be omission, must be an act)
Case to support for 1st element of the AR
Larkin – Unlawful act which caused death was an assault
Outline the 2nd element of the AR & case
Dangerous - test outlined by Church
Would the sober, responsible person see D’s actions as dangerous?
Would the sober reasonable person see a risk of some physical harm?
Outline the 3rd element of the AR & case
Must be proven that D caused the death of V
Goodfellow – Guilty of IV as his unlawful act of arson caused the death of the V’s
Factual causation
R v White - ‘but for’ the D’s act, would the V have suffered injury/died?
Legal causation
Chesire - was D more than a minimal cause of death? it must be the operating and substantial cause
Intervening acts - thin skull
thin skull - medical conditions, phobias, must take V as you find them
R v Blaue - Jehovah witness refused blood transfusion, did not break chain of causation
Intervening acts - medical treatment
Will only break causation where the negligent act is so overwhelming to make the original wound part of history
Jordan - D stabbed V several times. Doctor gave an injection of a substance V was allergic to, resulting in death. D was not to blame as the wound was part of history.
Intervening acts - victims own act
Victims own act won’t usually break chain of causation unless its unreasonable
Roberts - Reasonably foreseeable that V would jump out of a car after being touched without consent by D
Intervening acts - Third party
makes the situation worse if it was sufficiently independent of D’s act & foreseeable
R v Pagett - not foreseeable that the police would be a third party to break causation
The MR of UAM
The MR of UAM is intention for the unlawful act – D does not have to foresee death (must have MR for actual crime committed)
Case for MR
Newbury & Jones: Killed driver of a train, guilty of UAM as they had intention to throw the slab (intention for the unlawful act) Irrelevant that they had no intention to kill
