New Law: Manslaughter Changes

The Louisiana legislature added subsection (3) to the manslaughter statute:

When the offender commits or attempts to commit any crime of violence as defined in R.S. 14:2(B), which is part of a continuous sequence of events resulting in the death of a human being where it was foreseeable that the offender’s conduct during the commission of the crime could result in death or great bodily harm to a human being, even if the offender has no intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm. For purposes of this Paragraph, it shall be immaterial whether or not the person who performed the direct act resulting in the death was acting in concert with the offender."

This statute appears to be an attempt to re-establish that when an offender is engaged in a crime of violence, even if neither he nor his co-defendants are responsible directly for the death of someone, they could each be charged with manslaughter if a death results. The textbook example here would be a robbery that ended up with shots being fired by someone other than the robbers and an individual dying as a result. Although the robbers were not the shooters, under this version of the statute, they could still be charged with manslaughter as a result of the person’s death.

If you or someone you know is charged with a crime, call us at (318) 459-9111, to set up a consult.