Involuntary Manslaughter Charges - Penal Code 192(b)
I guess the question becomes, if you find yourself charged with involuntary manslaughter in Los Angeles, California, what should you do? You want to hire an attorney who has dealt with those cases before, is local to the court where your case is pending, and can help you.
In dealing with an involuntary manslaughter case, described under PC 192(b), it evaluates the case, the facts, and whether or not the prosecutors have the evidence to prove that you're guilty of the charged crime.
Involuntary manslaughter usually has to do with some criminal negligence action that results in the death of another. We see this a lot on the road; for example, somebody runs a red light and kills another person, is speeding fast down the highway, and ends up getting involved in some horrible accident where a death occurs.
There are defenses to involuntary manslaughter, usually centered around criminal defense — and even civil law — causation. Causation has to do with who caused the death.
In other words, if the police or prosecutors are claiming you did something negligent and a death occurred.
You can respond by saying either there was some other intervening force — someone else, maybe a third party, for example, cut me off, which caused me to have to go into the other lane, which caused the death — or the person who ended up passing away maybe was making an illegal U-turn — for example, was on drugs and is responsible for their death.
Accident Reconstruction
Again, we have to look at the facts of a particular case and, of course, the circumstances surrounding that case. And suppose it involves a vehicle; often, we will get an expert involved — somebody who understands accident reconstruction. Who understands what causes accidents, and then we can get down to the nitty-gritty of a defense?
If you don't have a defense to the crime and you're guilty, then the next question is, how will we resolve it? You want to protect your freedom, rights, and reputation. You want to ensure you can have a future job and not go to jail for a long time. Many people have families and things that they're worried about and concerned about.
Our role as your defense attorney is to sit down with the prosecutors and present your side of the story. We aim to humanize you, to show them who you are, your job, your family, your life. This is not just about the charges; it's about you as a person. We do this to mitigate the situation and to show that the conduct in question is not a reflection of who you are.
Mitigation Package
So, if you're charged with involuntary manslaughter, let's discuss it. Let's meticulously dissect every aspect and devise a comprehensive game plan. This plan will outline exactly how we're going to handle the case, what steps we're going to take, and whether we'll assemble a mitigation package.
This package will showcase all the positive aspects of your life to the prosecutors, aiming to persuade them of our position.
Unfortunately, the police often conduct one-sided investigations. They need to hear your side of the story, but they don't consider the mitigating factors.
They don't get some of the issues that could inure to your benefit, and that's what your defense attorney's job is — to point out the things that help you and make you look good so that the case can be resolved as quickly as possible; you can be out of the criminal justice system as fast as possible; and so that your involuntary manslaughter case can be handled the right way so you achieve the correct result.
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