Opinion ID: 2545886
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Does the Crime of Manslaughter by Act Require Proof of Intent to Kill?

Text: We conclude that under Florida law, the crime of manslaughter by act does not require that the State prove that the defendant intended to kill the victim. Relevant to our conclusion is the role of intent in cases of first-degree and second-degree murder, of which manslaughter is a necessarily lesser included offense. In order to establish first-degree premeditated murder, proof of the defendant's intent to kill the victim is required. In fact, not only must a jury find that the defendant intended to kill the victim, it must find that the defendant did so with premeditationa heightened level of intent. Section 782.04(1)(a), Florida Statutes (2005), defines first-degree premeditated murder as [t]he unlawful killing of a human being that is perpetrated from a premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed or any human being. (Emphasis added.) The element of premeditation distinguishes first-degree from second-degree murder. Second-degree murder is an unlawful killing that is perpetrated by any act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life ... without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual. § 782.04(2), Fla. Stat. (2005). Conduct that is imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind is characterized by an act or series of acts that: (1) a person of ordinary judgment would know is reasonably certain to kill or do serious bodily injury to another, and (2) is done from ill will, hatred, spite or an evil intent, and (3) is of such a nature that the act itself indicates an indifference to human life. Bellamy v. State, 977 So.2d 682, 683 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008) (quoting Duckett v. State, 686 So.2d 662, 663 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996)). Manslaughter, a lesser included offense of both first-degree and second-degree murder, is defined as [t]he killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another, without lawful justification ... in cases in which such killing shall not be excusable homicide or murder. § 782.07(1), Fla. Stat. (2005). Section 782.07(1) states as follows: (1) The killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another, without lawful justification according to the provisions of chapter 776 and in cases in which such killing shall not be excusable homicide or murder, according to the provisions of this chapter, is manslaughter, a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. § 782.07(1), Fla. Stat. (2005). While section 782.07(1) establishes three forms of manslaughter (by act, by procurement, or by culpable negligence), our present focus is on the crime of manslaughter by act. We observe that the statute does not impose a requirement that the defendant intend to kill the victim. Instead, it plainly provides that where one commits an act that results in death, and such an act is not lawfully justified or excusable, it is manslaughter. Although in some cases of manslaughter by act it may be inferred from the facts that the defendant intended to kill the victim, to impose such a requirement on a finding of manslaughter by act would blur the distinction between first-degree murder and manslaughter. Moreover, it would impose a more stringent finding of intent upon manslaughter than upon second-degree murder, which, like manslaughter, does not require proof that the defendant intended to kill the victim. Thus, we conclude that under Florida law, the crime of manslaughter by act does not require proof that the defendant intended to kill the victim.