Point taken.
But what if prison system lobbyists convince the state to make jay-walking a felony, and then…sorry. I just can’t do this with a straight face. 
Well they did convince them that cannabis cultivation and possession are… so there is some precedent :0
The line between reality and stupidity is getting too thin for my tastes.
Hoo boy, getting out of my field here. Based on the jury instructions, that can’t be manslaughter, since that requires wanton conduct, defined as “a wrongful act done on purpose in complete disregard of the rights of others.”
For reckless homicide, though, it’s trickier. The standard is:
A person is acting recklessly if “he fails to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk,” and the risk “must be of such nature and degree that failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.”
But, West v. Commonwealth states that:
before defendants can be found guilty of either reckless homicide or manslaughter, there must exist a legal duty owed by the defendants to the victim. A finding of legal duty is a critical element of the crime charged.
A recent case we had in the Commonwealth was a high school football coach charged with reckless homicide when his exceptionally tough practices resulted in a player’s death from heat stroke. So far as I know, there’s no legal duty one friend owes another in crossing a freeway, so I don’t think it’d be reckless homicide either.
[QUOTE=Northern Piper]
But it’s a criminal act on its own (e.g. vehicular homicide; dangerous driving causing death; exact name of the offence will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction). No need to pull in any sort of felony murder construction.
[/QUOTE]
Agreed, if carnivorousplant had a specific sort of accidental death in mind, perhaps he could post it.
Your hypotheticals don’t seem to be helping you out much, then. Here, let me offer a tweak:
If I push my friend in front of a train, my friend’s death with respect to the train conductor’s conduct: an accident, no? And yet I pushed him in front of a train. I murdered him, right? One death is simultaneously an accident and a murder. No?
That’s news to me. I distinctly remember from some time ago in California a couple of idiots decided to have a shoot-out with the police and one of the idiots got killed in said shoot-out. The other was charged with murder. Now, I may be incorrectly recalling the case, but even so, I don’t see a problem with it.
I never understood that either. The attempt should also carry severe consequences, shouldn’t it? In this instance, merely driving drunk could be considered an attempt, unintended as it is. Another thing that gets me is AWD. If it’s a deadly weapona and you’re assaulting someone with it, isn’t that an attempt at either manslaughter or murder?
This is why attorneys make so much money.
No, I do not.
*bolding mine. Intuitively it’s hard to attempt something if you aren’t intentionally doing it. And legally speaking there is no such thing as an “attempted malice murder” because, as you said, every drunk driver could be guilty of attempted murder.
For much the same reason, assault with a deadly weapon, like a baseball bat isn’t necessarily attempted murder. You could lash out at someone and start beating them such that you would be convicted of murder 2 if he died, but only AWDW if he lives.
I would steal that for my sig if I didn’t already have the best.