What are the requirements to be charged with depraved indifference?
Full Question:
My daughter died from peritonitis & gangrene, a complication a year and a half after a kidney transplant. She begged her husband to take her to the hospital. He refused and left her alone for several hours to suffer gangrene, and die later. Is this a case of depraved indifference? He had signed a form promising due diligence and did not respect that.
04/21/2009 |
Category: Criminal |
State: Florida |
#16077
Answer:
It will be a subjective matter for a court to decide, based on all the facts and circumstances involved. An act is "imminently dangerous to another and demonstrating a depraved mind" if it is 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.
The following is a Florida statute dealing with depraved indifference:
782.04 Murder. —
(1)(a) The unlawful killing of a human being:
1. When perpetrated from a premeditated design to effect the
death of the person killed or any human being;
2. When committed by a person engaged in the perpetration
of, or in the attempt to perpetrate, any:
a. Trafficking offense prohibited by s. 893.135(1),
b. Arson,
c. Sexual battery,
d. Robbery,
e. Burglary,
f. Kidnapping,
g. Escape,
h. Aggravated child abuse,
i. Aggravated abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult,
j. Aircraft piracy,
k. Unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a
destructive device or bomb,
l. Carjacking,
m. Home-invasion robbery,
n. Aggravated stalking,
o. Murder of another human being,
p. Resisting an officer with violence to his or her person,
q. Felony that is an act of terrorism or is in furtherance
of an act of terrorism; or
3. Which resulted from the unlawful distribution of any
substance controlled under s. 893.03(1), cocaine as
described in s. 893.03(2)(a)4., or opium or any synthetic or
natural salt, compound, derivative, or preparation of opium
by a person 18 years of age or older, when such drug is
proven to be the proximate cause of the death of the user,
is murder in the first degree and constitutes a capital
felony, punishable as provided in s. 775.082.
(b) In all cases under this section, the procedure set forth
in s. 921.141 shall be followed in order to determine
sentence of death or life imprisonment.
(2) The unlawful killing of a human being, when perpetrated
by any act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a
depraved mind regardless of human life, although without any
premeditated design to effect the death of any particular
individual, is murder in the second degree and constitutes a
felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment for a
term of years not exceeding life or as provided in
s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
(3) When a person is killed in the perpetration of, or in
the attempt to perpetrate, any:
(a) Trafficking offense prohibited by s. 893.135(1),
(b) Arson,
(c) Sexual battery,
(d) Robbery,
(e) Burglary,
(f) Kidnapping,
(g) Escape,
(h) Aggravated child abuse,
(i) Aggravated abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult,
(j) Aircraft piracy,
(k) Unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a
destructive device or bomb,
(l) Carjacking,
(m) Home-invasion robbery,
(n) Aggravated stalking,
(o) Murder of another human being,
(p) Resisting an officer with violence to his or her person,
or
(q) Felony that is an act of terrorism or is in furtherance
of an act of terrorism,
by a person other than the person engaged in the
perpetration of or in the attempt to perpetrate such felony,
the person perpetrating or attempting to perpetrate such
felony is guilty of murder in the second degree, which
constitutes a felony of the first degree, punishable by
imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life or as
provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
(4) The unlawful killing of a human being, when perpetrated
without any design to effect death, by a person engaged in
the perpetration of, or in the attempt to perpetrate, any
felony other than any:
(a) Trafficking offense prohibited by s. 893.135(1),
(b) Arson,
(c) Sexual battery,
(d) Robbery,
(e) Burglary,
(f) Kidnapping,
(g) Escape,
(h) Aggravated child abuse,
(i) Aggravated abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult,
(j) Aircraft piracy,
(k) Unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a
destructive device or bomb,
(l) Unlawful distribution of any substance controlled under
s. 893.03(1), cocaine as described in s. 893.03(2)(a)4., or
opium or any synthetic or natural salt, compound,
derivative, or preparation of opium by a person 18 years of
age or older, when such drug is proven to be the proximate
cause of the death of the user,
(m) Carjacking,
(n) Home-invasion robbery,
(o) Aggravated stalking,
(p) Murder of another human being,
(q) Resisting an officer with violence to his or her person,
or
(r) Felony that is an act of terrorism or is in furtherance
of an act of terrorism,
is murder in the third degree and constitutes a felony of
the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082,
s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
(5) As used in this section, the term "terrorism" means an
activity that:
(a)1. Involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human
life which is a violation of the criminal laws of this state
or of the United States; or
2. Involves a violation of s. 815.06; and
(b) Is intended to:
1. Intimidate, injure, or coerce a civilian population;
2. Influence the policy of a government by intimidation or
coercion; or
3. Affect the conduct of government through destruction of
property, assassination, murder, kidnapping, or aircraft
piracy.