About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

40 Ohio St. L.J. 569 (1979)
Involuntary Manslaughter: Review and Commentary on Ohio Law

handle is hein.journals/ohslj40 and id is 577 raw text is: Involuntary Manslaughter: Review and Commentary on Ohio Law JEFFREY M. GOLDSMITH* The crime of involuntary manslaughter was defined at common law to include two different types of homicides. An actor was held liable for involuntary manslaughter when a death resulted from the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to a felony, or from the actor's performance of an otherwise lawful act but in a reckless or extremely negligent manner.' Involuntary manslaughter was distinguished from murder or voluntary manslaughter by the absence of any intention to kill.2 The law of involuntary manslaughter in Ohio underwent significant revision in the Criminal Code of 1974. Prior to 1974, the crime of involuntary manslaughter was not defined as an offense with its own statutory identity, but instead, essentially included various forms of unlawful act manslaughter. The Code revisors retained unlawful act manslaughter in the present involuntary manslaughter statute, but specified that felonies and misdemeanors were to be the unlawful acts giving rise to an involuntary manslaughter charge.4 In addition, the Criminal Code of 1974 contains three other offenses that may be properly characterized as types of involuntary manslaughter negligent homicide,5 aggravated vehicular homicide,6 and vehicular homicide. The purpose of this article is to explore the present law of involuntary manslaughter in Ohio and to ask whether the Code revisions of 1974, as interpreted by the Ohio courts, are the most effective and just formulations of the law of involuntary manslaughter. I. INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER: SECTION 2903.04 The crime of involuntary manslaughter is codified in section 2903.04 of the Criminal Code: (A) No person shall cause the death of another as a proximate result of the offender's committing or attempting to commit a felony. * Clerk, Judge Max Rosenn, Third Circuit, United States Court of Appeals; J.D., Ohio State University College of Law. 1. F. WHARTON, HOMICIDE § 6, at 7 (3d ed. 1907). 2. Id. § 211, at 333-34. 3. OHIO REv. CODE ANN. § 2901.06 (Page 1954) (manslaughter in the first degree). Other manslaughter status included: § 4511.18 (Page 1967) (homicide by vehicle in the second degree); § 4511.181 (Page 1967) (homicide by vehicle in the first degree); § 1547.13 (Page 1964) (watercraft re- lated deaths); § 4999.04 (Page 1954) (locomotive related deaths). 4. OHIO REV. CODE ANN. § 2903.04 (Page 1975). 5. Id. § 2903.05. 6. Id. § 2903.06. 7. Id. § 2903.07.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most