Criminally Negligent Homicide

Birmingham Criminally Negligent Homicide Lawyer

When a person kills another, but does so negligently, rather than intentionally or recklessly, they have committed criminally negligent homicide in Alabama. Our Alabama Murder lawyer have experience representing clients charged with criminally negligent homicide. The Alabama criminally negligent homicide statute can be found at 13A-6-4 and states that this crime is a Class A misdemeanor, which means it is punishable by up to a year in prison. The exception to this range of punishment occurs when the jury determines the actor is guilty of criminally negligent homicide while violating the DUI laws of the State of Alabama. If the defendant was driving while drunk and killed another person, and the jury finds their action constituted criminally negligent homicide, that person is convicted of a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The typical situation where a person is charged with criminally negligent homicide is where they are not intoxicated, but are speeding or negligently run a stop sign or traffic signal, and someone is killed by this poor driving. This is a common charge for young, careless drivers, who kill an occupant of their vehicle while driving negligently. Often, a defendant is actually charged with Murder or manslaughter, and a defense attorney seeks conviction of criminally negligent homicide as a lesser-included offense. In such a situation, the murder defendant is able to avoid a felony on their record. If you, or a loved one, have been charged with criminally negligent homicide in Birmingham or any other area of Alabama, call the murder defense lawyers at Boles Holmes White LLC to represent you today. 205-502-2000.