Vehicular Homicide

Minnesota Statute 609.21112 covers criminal vehicular homicide. The consequences are less severe than some other types of homicide, such as murder and first-degree manslaughter. But it is still a serious felony. As mentioned above, prosecutors can charge out this crime based on various actions involving the operation of a motor vehicle. 

Grossly Negligent Conduct

Operating a vehicle with gross negligence is one way to commit vehicular homicide. This means acting with very great negligence, or without even a little bit of care for what you are doing and how you could harm others. One example is blowing through a stop sign and killing a pedestrian in the process. Another example is watching a YouTube video while driving and crashing into another vehicle.

Culpable negligence is a step above gross negligence, adding the component of recklessness. Minnesota applies the culpable negligence standard to second-degree manslaughter cases. Killing someone while playing chicken with another driver, for example, would likely result in a charge of manslaughter instead of criminal vehicular homicide.

Other Ways to Commit Vehicular Homicide

• Driving with basic negligence (as opposed to more serious negligence) while impaired by alcohol, drugs, or a combination of alcohol and drugs

• Negligent driving while influenced by any other intoxicating substance. This requires the knowledge that the substance might make you impaired.

• Driving with basic negligence when your body contains any quantity of a Schedule I or II drug (except marijuana)

• Driving with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher (no negligent driving conduct required)

• Having a BAC of 0.08 within two hours of driving (no negligent driving conduct required)

• Causing a collision and leaving the scene before fulfilling your legal obligations. These obligations are to investigate what happened and to give your information to a peace officer.

• Causing a death by ignoring defects in your vehicle’s maintenance (such as faulty brakes or broken headlights). This must occur after a peace officer alerts you to those defects.

If you are accused of committing a vehicular homicide, you are facing serious consequences. The maximum prison sentence for this charge is 10 years. The maximum fine is $20,000. A judge can impose either or both. 

As with most other crimes, the consequences will vary depending on your criminal history. One specific way this can happen is if you have committed certain driving offenses before. In this case, the maximum sentence jumps from 10 to 15 years. The previous offense has to have occurred within 10 years of the new vehicular homicide charge. The offense must be one of the following: 

• First or second-degree DWI.

• Criminal vehicular homicide (that is, one that occurred before the new/current vehicular homicide).

• Criminal vehicular operation (driving conduct resulting in bodily harm or injury).

When you are formally charged with criminal vehicular homicide, the state will immediately suspend your driver’s license. A conviction will result in a license revocation of six to ten years. (Six years without qualified priors, eight years with one qualified prior, and ten years with two or more qualified priors.) 

Just as the ways to commit vehicular homicide vary, defenses and defense tactics will vary. One defense mentioned in the vehicular homicide statute itself relates to prescriptions. If the accusation is driving negligently while having a controlled substance present in the body, it is a defense to show that the substance was 1) prescribed by a medical professional and 2) being used according to the prescription’s terms.

Testing issues can also produce a defense. Urine, breath, and blood tests can be inaccurate. Ringstrom DeKrey attorneys understand how inexperienced personnel sometimes administer these tests or run them with faulty equipment.

We may find it appropriate to engage independent experts to examine the government’s tests and cast doubt on the government’s conclusions. Truly expert chemical testers can ensure the test you were given was administered by a qualified individual. The proper conditions and an accurate machine also matter.

Accident reconstruction experts can offer another way to challenge the accusations against you. These experts can determine the cause(s) of the accident, including why and how it happened. Sometimes they work together with digital forensic experts, who can use data from your cell phone or GPS to add to your defense. Any of the above experts can testify to a jury or judge. Sometimes, though, their written conclusions are enough to get charges dismissed before the trial stage. 

Other defenses to vehicular homicide include mistaken identity, necessity, and duress. (Necessity means you had no choice but to break the law in order to avoid a worse harm. Duress refers to coercion by another to commit the crime.) These types of arguments are difficult to use successfully. It is usually not enough to just claim them. Rather, they must be supported by convincing supporting details, often gathered with the help of an experienced private investigator.