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B-237767 1 (1990-11-06)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadnvd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 2'M/\4~IAt NComptroler General of the United States Wahington, D.C. 20548 Decision Matter of: Laura L. Hughes - Claim for Survivor Benefits Plan Annuity File: B-237767 Date: November 6, 1990 DECISION This is in response to an appeal of a Claims Group determination to deny a Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuity to Laura L. Hughes, widow of Robert D. Hughes, USN (Retired). For the reasons presented below, the claim may be paid. The record indicates that Mrs. Hughes shot Mr. Hughes during a domestic disturbance in Virginia in 1988. She later testified that she had pointed a gun at him but did not intend to kill him. Mrs. Hughes was indicted for murder, although the indictment was amended to involuntary manslaughter, the crime to which she pleaded guilty. The judge accepted her plea and Mrs. Hughes was placed in a Community Diversion Program, in lieu of incarceration. Entitlement to an SBP annuity is a matter controlled by federal law. See 10 U.S.C. § 1450. The Claims Group, in denying Mrs. Hughes claim, relied on the fact that in interpreting the law regarding entitlement to annuities and other benefits, our Office has consistently held that it is against public policy to allow payment by the government of benefits to an heir or beneficiary who feloniously kills the person upon whose death the benefits accrue. See, e.g., Major John R. Frazier (Retired) (Deceased), B-191953, July 3, 1978. In her appeal, Mrs. Hughes notes that the judge at her trial indicated that he believed the shooting accidental, as evidenced by the trial transcript. Involuntary manslaughter, a felony under the laws of Virginia, see Va. Code Ann. § 18-2-30, is an accidental killing contrary to the intention of the parties, during the prosecution of an unlawful, but not felonious, act, or during the improper performance of some lawful act. Gooden v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 226 Va. 565, 311 S.E. 2d 780, 784 (1984). Because a finding of intent thus is not required for involuntary manslaughter, neither a conviction nor an acquittal on the charge is dispositive of whether the claimant acted with felonious intent in the killing. See Sally Ann Morgan, B-193743, Sept. 28, 1979; B-188403, May 5, 1977. c- , r..z ii / L4 C

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