King of Pop’s Doc Might Head to the Cell Block
The FactsOn June 25, 2009 Michael Jackson died after going into cardiac arrest. At the end of a lengthy investigation, the Los Angeles County Coroner concluded that Jackson’s death was the result of a homicide because of the presence of some unusual drugs in Jackson’s body at the time, particularly Propofol, which is used in hospital operating rooms to induce unconsciousness in patients who are about to undergo surgery. Further investigation led Los Angeles County prosecutors to believe that Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, was criminally responsible for Jackson’s death by administering the Propofol and other drugs to the singer. As a result, Los Angeles prosecutors charged Dr. Murray with involuntary manslaughter on February 10, 2010.
The Law
Involuntary manslaughter is a felony homicide offence. All homicide offences require proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant 1) engaged in the unlawful killing of another human being and 2) had a certain state of mind when he did so. The distinguishing characteristic of involuntary manslaughter among the other homicide offences is the required mind state of criminal negligence at the time of the killing. Generally, someone acts with criminal negligence when he or she engages in an act that entails a high risk of death or serious bodily injury to another, and is unaware of that risk but should have known of it. Criminal negligence differs significantly from recklessness or intent to kill, for example, which usually must be proven for murder, a different homicide offence.
Each jurisdiction will have a different interpretation or standard for what constitutes criminal negligence. For the purposes of involuntary manslaughter, California requires that the unlawful killing be committed “without due caution or circumspection.” Under California law, this standard means that a person acts with criminal negligence when:
"the way he or she acts is so different from the way an ordinarily careful person would act in the same situation that his or her act amounts to disregard for human life or indifference to the consequences of that act."
In the Jackson case, the Los Angeles prosecutors will attempt to prove that Dr. Conrad administered Propofol and other drugs to Jackson in a criminally negligent manner. That is, they’ll try to prove that Dr. Conrad gave Jackson drugs that created a high risk of death or serious bodily injury to Jackson and that Dr. Conrad did so despite that risk in a manner that deviated from the way an ordinary doctor in the same situation would have acted.
If convicted, Dr. Conrad could face between 2 and 4 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines. He could also face adverse action to his license to practice medicine by the Medical Board of California, which could range from reprimand or censure to complete revocation.
The Takeaway
It is possible to be guilty of a crime even if you did not intend a bad or unlawful result. For some crimes, it is enough that you acted with a conscious disregard of a dangerous risk or even a complete unawareness of such a risk. The law imposes a duty on us to act responsibly and to consider the possible risks and outcomes of our actions carefully. Even if we do not intend a specific bad result, we must try to foresee the possible results that may come about as a result of our actions and act in a reasonable way to avoid the negative possibilities.
Good job, author! Good job!
Tomorrow I will open my new blog about the cinema movies. Nice to meet you!
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