Penal Code 191.5 (a)(b)— Vehicular Manslaughter while Intoxicated

It is a crime under California law to drive a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or a combination of both. Furthermore, the California Penal Code creates a separate offense for when driving under the influence, and committing a negligent act, results in the unlawful killing of another person without premeditation or malice aforethought. — This is called “Vehicular Manslaughter while Intoxicated.”  

How Can I Be Found Guilty of Drunk Driving and Killing Someone? 

Under California law, negligence refers to a person’s failure to use reasonable care. In order for negligence to exist, the defendant must have some duty of reasonable care towards a specific person or group of people. The failure to meet that level of duty is what generally results in damage, injury, or under this statute, death to another.

 There are two types of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated: 

1. Vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated—Gross negligence under Penal Code 191.5(a) 
2. Vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated—Ordinary Negligence under Penal Code 191.5(b) 

Gross Negligence 

Gross negligence is more than just a mere mistake in judgment. In order to convict you of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, the prosecution must show that your conduct demonstrated very little regard for human life and that it created a substantial risk of death or great bodily injury. You will be accused of violating Penal Code 191.5(a) if: 

1. You drove under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or both; 
2. While driving under the influence, you committed a misdemeanor, infraction, or otherwise lawful act that might cause death;
3. You committed said act with gross negligence; 

AND

1. Your grossly negligent conduct caused the death of another person. 

It is important to mention that the “gross negligent act” part is separate from committing DUI itself. 

Gross negligence occurs when: 

1. A person acts in a reckless way that creates a high risk of death or great bodily injury

AND 

1. A reasonable person would have known that acting in that way would create such a risk. 

Consider the following example: 

Joey drinks beer all day long after getting fired from his job that morning. While driving to the liquor store to get more alcohol, he drives 70mph in a school zone, misses the stop sign, and he hits and kills a child crossing the street. Joey will be accused of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. 

Ordinary Negligence 

You will be accused of violating Penal Code 191.5(b) if: 

1. You drove under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or both;
2. While driving under the influence, you committed a misdemeanor, infraction, or otherwise lawful act, that might cause death;
3. You committed said act with ordinary negligence;

AND

1. Your negligent conduct caused the death of another person.  

As mentioned before, the difference between this offense and gross vehicular negligence while intoxicated is the degree of negligence required. Ordinary negligence is the lesser offense of gross negligence and is defined as the failure to use reasonable care to prevent foreseeable harm to oneself or someone else.

It is important to mention that a person who faces a sudden and unexpected emergency situation not caused by that person’s negligence is required only to use the same care and judgment that an ordinarily careful person would use in the same situation even if it appears later that a different course of action would have been safer.

Consider the following example: 

Ana is heading home from happy hour where she had two drinks. During the drive home, she leans over to change the radio station, and doesn’t notice a sharp metal object that was in the middle of the road. It causes the tire of her car to pop off, and as a result, she spins out of control and crashes head-on into another car. The driver of the other vehicle instantly dies. Ana would be accused of ordinary negligent vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.