The last two classifications of criminal homicide to explore are manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. What distinguishes manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide is primarily the applicable culpable mental state. Both manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide are graded lower than murder – manslaughter is classified as a class A felony offense and criminally negligent homicide is a class B felony offense.  Both crimes result in substantially less punishment than either first- or second-degree murder.

Manslaughter

Recall that at common law, manslaughter was the unlawful killing without malice or without adequate provocation. Traditionally, manslaughter had two classifications: voluntary and involuntary. Alaska has eliminated these classifications.

Voluntary manslaughter was a killing supported by express malice, but because of a heat of passion, the law negated the murderous intent. As previously discussed, Alaska has incorporated the “voluntary manslaughter” principle into the statutory heat of passion defense. A defendant who unreasonably kills acting in a heat of passion after being seriously provoked by the victim is guilty of manslaughter – not murder – by operation of law. AS 11.41.115(a).

Involuntary manslaughter was considered a reckless killing. In Alaska, a person who recklessly causes the death of another is simply guilty of manslaughter.

Alaska’s manslaughter statute is actually separated into three theories. First, manslaughter is the residual category of criminal homicide. A person is guilty of manslaughter if they intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly cause the death of another person under circumstances not amounting to first- or second-murder. This necessarily means that an unlawful killing that is committed with any of the enumerated culpable mental states will constitute manslaughter, unless the killing is murder. The distinction between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter is unnecessary given this framework.

Second, the crime of manslaughter covers intentional assisted suicide.

Finally, a person is guilty of manslaughter if they engage in drug-trafficking and a person dies as a result of ingesting the purchased drugs.

Figure 9.8 Alaska Criminal Code – Manslaughter

Criminally Negligent Homicide

The lowest classification of criminal homicide is criminally negligent homicide, which is the unlawful killing with criminal negligence. Recall that criminal negligence is a lower culpable mental state than recklessness. The culpable mental states of recklessness and criminal negligence are similar in two respects. Both involve a “substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur” (in the case of homicide, death) and both require a disregard of that risk constituting a “gross deviation from the standard” of conduct or care that “a reasonable person would observe in the situation.” See AS 11.81.900(a)(3)&(4). Reckless, however, requires a “conscious disregard” of that risk – a defendant must subjectively be aware of the risk. The criminally negligent defendant, on the other hand, is unaware of the risk and disregards it unconsciously.

Example of Criminally Negligent Homicide

Pam, an Olympic skeet-shooter, agrees to store her brother’s handgun while he is on vacation. Pam places the handgun in a bottom kitchen cabinet.  Pam thinks the gun is unloaded and does not verify or otherwise secure the weapon. Unbeknownst to Pam, the gun is loaded. Tragically, Pam’s 3-year-old daughter finds the handgun, and while manipulating it, shoots and kills herself. Under this scenario, a jury could find that Pam should have checked to ensure that the weapon was unloaded or otherwise secured the weapon out of the reach of a child. If a jury found that Pam’s disregard of the risk was a gross deviation from what a reasonable person would have done, it could find her guilty of criminally negligent homicide.

Vehicular Homicide

Unlike most states, Alaska does not have specific vehicular homicide statutes addressing deaths resulting from drunk driving. Instead, a defendant’s level of intoxication, dangerousness of driving, and criminal history will establish the defendant’s culpable mental state – specifically, extreme recklessness, recklessness, or criminal negligence.  Assuming the specific harm caused was death, the defendant’s culpable mental state then dictates the appropriate criminal homicide offense – second-degree murder, manslaughter, or criminally negligent homicide. Generally, only particularly egregious drunk driving behavior satisfies extreme recklessness for second-degree murder. For example, a drunk-driving second-degree murder conviction was upheld when the defendant was highly intoxicated, driving particularly dangerous, and had a long history of drinking and driving.  See e.g., Jeffries v. State, 169 P.3d 913 (Alaska 2007). “Typical” drunk-driving homicides are normally classified as manslaughter. The defendant’s intoxication demonstrates recklessness. In scenarios where there is limited evidence of intoxication or particularly accidental deaths, the homicide is classified as criminally negligent homicide.