California Vehicular Manslaughter Law – Penal Code § 192c

In California, the crime of vehicular manslaughter is defined as

1. driving in a negligent or unlawful manner and
2. thereby causing the death of another person.

The seriousness of the crime and punishment depends on

1. the degree of negligence involved,
2. whether you were intoxicated, and
3. your prior criminal record.

The language of Penal Code 192 reads that:

(c) Vehicular—

(1) Except as provided in subdivision (a) of Section 191.5, driving a vehicle in the commission of an unlawful act, not amounting to a felony, and with gross negligence; or driving a vehicle in the commission of a lawful act which might produce death, in an unlawful manner, and with gross negligence.

(2) Driving a vehicle in the commission of an unlawful act, not amounting to a felony, but without gross negligence; or driving a vehicle in the commission of a lawful act which might produce death, in an unlawful manner, but without gross negligence.

(3) Driving a vehicle in connection with a violation of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 550, where the vehicular collision or vehicular accident was knowingly caused for financial gain and proximately resulted in the death of any person. This paragraph does not prevent prosecution of a defendant for the crime of murder. ^{1 2}

By contrast, if you killed someone while driving a car and committing an act that was a felony, you could be charged with Penal Code 187 PC murder under the California felony-murder rule.³

If the allegation is that you committed vehicular manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, then you would be charged with either Penal Code 191.5(a) PC gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated or Penal Code 191.5(b) PC vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.⁴

Examples

Here are some examples of situations that could lead to charges under PC 192(c), California’s vehicular manslaughter law:

• A woman sends a text message from her cell phone while driving, causing her to hit a bicyclist and kill him;
• A teenager is speeding on the highway when he crashes into another car, killing that driver; and
• A man deliberately drives into a stop sign at high speed in the hopes of getting an insurance payout for his car, and in doing so he hits and kills a pedestrian.

Penalties

The penalties under California’s vehicular manslaughter law depend on whether you acted with

• gross negligence, or
• ordinary negligence.

If you acted with gross negligence, then Penal Code 192(c) vehicular manslaughter is a wobbler. This means it may be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony.⁵

The maximum sentence for misdemeanor manslaughter with gross negligence is one (1) year in county jail—and the maximum felony sentence is six (6) years in state prison.⁶

If you acted with only ordinary negligence, then Penal Code 192(c) is a misdemeanor. The maximum PC 192(c) sentence will be one (1) year in county jail.⁷

Legal defenses

If you are involved in a car accident in which someone is killed, you are no doubt grieving already. To face vehicular manslaughter charges on top of that can truly be a nightmare.

You may feel guilty—but you have the right and the means to defend yourself to avoid criminal penalties. Some helpful legal defenses to 192(c) PC charges include:

• You did not act with negligence or gross negligence;
• Your negligence did not cause the victim’s death; and
• You were facing a sudden emergency and acted reasonably under the circumstances.

In order to help you better understand the law, our California DUI attorneys will address the following:

• 1. What is Vehicular Manslaughter?
• 2. What are the penalties?
• 3. How can I fight the charges?
• 4. Related Offenses
• Additional resources

If, after reading this article, you would like more information, we invite you to contact us at Shouse Law Group.

1. What is Vehicular Manslaughter?

Penal Code 192 PC, California’s manslaughter law, sets out the legal definition of the crime of vehicular manslaughter.⁸

Unlike the crimes of California voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter always occurs while you are operating a vehicle.⁹ The offense is considered to be a form of negligent homicide.

Vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence Penal Code 192(c)(1)

Vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence is described in Penal Code 192(c)(1) PC. For you to be guilty of gross negligence vehicular manslaughter, the prosecutor must be able to prove the following “elements of the crime”:

1. While driving a vehicle, you committed a misdemeanor or an infraction, or else committed a lawful act in a manner that might cause death;
2. The act you committed was dangerous to human life under the circumstances;
3. You committed that act with gross negligence; and
4. Your act caused the death of another person.¹⁰

Below is a more thorough explanation of some of these terms:

A misdemeanor, infraction, or lawful act that could cause death

In order to be guilty of vehicular manslaughter, you must either:

• Commit a California crime that is not a felony, or
• Commit a lawful act in a way that is likely to cause death.¹¹

Example: Alice is talking on her cell phone without using a hands-free device while driving on the freeway—an infraction in California law. She loses control of her car and crashes into the guardrail. Her friend Megan, who is in the passenger seat, is killed in the crash.

Alice may be charged with vehicular manslaughter because she caused a fatal accident while driving a car and committing an infraction.

Note that—for PC 192(c) vehicular manslaughter charges to lie—the illegal act you were committing should not have been a felony. That is because, if you killed someone with a car while committing a felony, the prosecutor is likely to charge you instead with California murder under the felony-murder rule.¹²

Gross negligence

Gross negligence is key to the legal definition of vehicular manslaughter under Penal Code 192(c)(1). If the prosecutor cannot show that you acted with gross negligence, then you may only be guilty of normal (misdemeanor) vehicular manslaughter.¹³

Gross negligence is something more than ordinary carelessness, inattentiveness, or error in judgment. Gross negligence occurs only when:

1. You act in a reckless way that creates a high risk of death or great bodily injury; AND
2. A reasonable person would have known that acting in that way would create such a risk.¹⁴

It is only gross negligence if you act so differently from how an ordinarily careful person would act in the same situation that your act indicates a real disregard for human life or the consequences of your actions.¹⁵

Example: John is driving two friends on a two-lane country road at night; another friend is driving in a separate car behind them.

John is speeding and keeps veering out of his lane and crossing the double yellow line. The friend behind him honks his horn and flashes his lights to try to get John to stop this, but John continues to do it anyway.

Then, at a blind curve on a downgrade, John crosses the double yellow line on purpose to pass three cars, while going 10 miles over the speed limit. He hits an oncoming vehicle, killing one of his passengers.

John’s actions indicate the kind of disregard for human life and consequences that could be called gross negligence—and support PC 192(c)(1) vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence charges.¹⁶

Causing the death of another person

In order for you to be guilty of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence under PC 192(c)(1), your grossly negligent actions must actually cause another person’s death.¹⁷ This means that the death must be the

• direct,
• natural, and
• probable

consequence of your act. In other words, it must be the kind of thing a reasonable person would know is likely to happen.¹⁸

Example: While driving with his uptight friend Cameron late at night, Ferris decides to “have some fun” by driving the wrong way on the freeway. He enters the freeway from the off-ramp and drives to the next exit going the wrong way.

Because of the late hour, they avoid colliding with any other cars—but Cameron is so upset by Ferris’s antics that he has a heart attack and dies.

Ferris’s behavior was illegal and grossly negligent. But he may not be guilty of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence because Cameron’s death by heart attack was not a natural and probable consequence of his actions.

To be convicted of violating Penal Code 192(c)(1) vehicular manslaughter, your grossly negligent act does not need to be the only cause of death—as long as it is one “substantial factor” causing it.¹⁹

Example: While speeding in violation of Vehicle Code 22350, weaving recklessly through traffic, and running a red light, Debra strikes a pedestrian with her car.

The pedestrian is not killed by Debra’s car, but he is incapacitated and left lying in the middle of the road. Another car then runs over the pedestrian and kills him.

Debra may be guilty of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence—because her reckless and illegal driving was a substantial factor in the pedestrian’s death, even if it wasn’t the only cause.

Misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter Penal Code 192(c)(2)

Penal Code 192(c)(2) PC sets out the crime of ordinary (or misdemeanor) vehicular manslaughter.²⁰ The elements of this offense are:

1. While driving a vehicle, you committed a misdemeanor or an infraction, or else committed a lawful act in an unlawful manner;
2. The act you committed was dangerous to human life under the circumstances;
3. You committed that act with ordinary negligence; and
4. Your act caused the death of another person.²¹

The main difference between ordinary vehicular manslaughter and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence is that the former only requires negligence—not gross negligence. Ordinary negligence under PC 192(c)(2) means that you failed to use reasonable care to prevent reasonably foreseeable harm to someone else.²²

Example: Todd is stopped at a stop sign, waiting to turn right onto a busy arterial at rush hour. Seeing a brief break in the oncoming traffic to his left, he accelerates rapidly to make the turn, without looking to his right.

It turns out that a pedestrian is entering the crosswalk just as Todd begins to make his turn. He strikes and kills the pedestrian.

Not checking for pedestrians at the crosswalk was negligent behavior on Todd’s part—but it probably doesn’t rise to the level of gross negligence. He is more likely to be convicted of ordinary (misdemeanor) vehicular manslaughter.

Vehicular manslaughter for financial gain Penal Code 192(c)(3)

Another special form of vehicular manslaughter, described in PC 192(c)(3), is known as “vehicular manslaughter for financial gain.” This occurs if:

1. While driving a vehicle, you knowingly cause or participate in a collision;
2. You do so knowing that the purpose of the collision is to make a false insurance claim for financial gain (for example, commit auto insurance fraud);
3. You do so with the intent to defraud the insurance company or another party; and
4. The collision causes a death.²³

In other words, it is considered vehicular manslaughter if you accidentally kill someone while deliberately wrecking a car in order to commit insurance fraud.

2. What are the penalties?

The penalties, punishment and sentencing for 192(c) PC California vehicular manslaughter depend on which form of the offense you are accused of committing.

Vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence (PC 192(c)(1)) penalties

Vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence under Penal Code 192(c)(1) PC is a wobbler.²⁴ This means that it may be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on

• the circumstances of the offense, and
• your criminal history.²⁵

If you are charged with PC 192(c)(1) gross negligence vehicular manslaughter as a misdemeanor, the potential consequences are:

1. Misdemeanor (summary) probation,
2. A sentence of up to one (1) year in county jail, and/or
3. A fine of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000).²⁶

If you are charged with PC 192(c)(1) gross negligence vehicular manslaughter as a felony, the potential penalties are:

1. Felony (formal) probation,
2. Imprisonment in the California state prison for two (2), four (4) or six (6) years, and/or
3. A fine of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000).²⁷

Misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter (PC 192(c)(2)) penalties

Misdemeanor—ordinary—vehicular manslaughter under Penal Code 192(c)(2) PC carries the following consequences:

1. Misdemeanor (summary) probation,
2. A sentence of up to one (1) year in county jail, and/or
3. A fine of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000).²⁸

Vehicular manslaughter for financial gain (PC 192(c)(3)) penalties

Vehicular manslaughter for financial gain/insurance purposes is always a felony under Penal Code 192(c)(3) PC. The potential penalties include a fine of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000), and/or four (4), six (6) or ten (10) years in state prison.²⁹

Driver’s license suspension

If you are convicted of either PC 192(c)(1) vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence or PC 192(c)(3) vehicular manslaughter for financial gain, then the California DMV will revoke your driver’s license.³⁰

Plus you will not be able to get your license reinstated until at least three (3) years after the date of revocation.³¹

If you drive during the period when your license is revoked, you will then face additional charges for driving on a suspended license under Vehicle Code 14601 VC.³²

3. How can I fight the charges?

Accidents happen when people drive cars—that’s just a fact. Though sometimes police and prosecutors respond to terrible tragedies by pressing vehicular manslaughter charges even when such charges are unjustified or unfair.

If this happens to you, there are several legal defenses we can use to try to fight PC 192(c) charges (or get them reduced). These include:

You did not act with negligence or gross negligence

According to Newport Beach criminal and DUI defense attorney John Murray³³:

“Both negligence and gross negligence can be pretty tricky to prove in vehicular manslaughter cases. The definitions of both refer to a “reasonable person” standard of behavior, which sounds objective—but actually is pretty subjective and itself quite hard to define.”

Driving a vehicle requires all of us to make quick decisions—and it can be hard to argue that these decisions, even if they ultimately turn out to be bad ones, were so bad as to be negligent.

Or, if you are charged with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence under Penal Code 192(c)(2), we may be able to successfully argue that your behavior was merely negligent—not grossly so. This can radically reduce your potential penalties—and can also save you from a required three-year driver’s license revocation.³⁴

Your negligence didn’t cause the victim’s death

Sorting out cause and effect in situations involving auto accidents is challenging.

Even if you drove with negligence or gross negligence and someone ended up dead, there is a chance the prosecution cannot prove that it was your negligence—rather than, say, the negligence of the victim or a third party—that caused the death and thus that you are guilty of PC 192(c) vehicular manslaughter.

We will know how to challenge the prosecution’s account of what happened, often with the help of accident reconstruction expert witnesses.

You faced a sudden emergency and acted reasonably under the circumstances

California vehicular manslaughter law provides that—if you were facing a sudden and unexpected emergency—you are required only to use the same care and judgment that an ordinarily careful person would use in the same situation.³⁵

If you did so, then you were not negligent or grossly negligent.³⁶

For example, let’s say you swerved into oncoming traffic—but you did so to avoid hitting a deer or running over road debris that would have ruined your car. In this sort of situation, you can argue that your behavior was not negligent enough to support a PC 192(c) vehicular manslaughter conviction.

4. Related Offenses

There are several related crimes that may be charged instead of—or along with—Penal Code 192(c) vehicular manslaughter.

Penal Code 191.5 PC vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated / gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated

Penal Code 191.5 PC vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated is a separate and distinct crime from vehicular manslaughter under PC 192(c). This law applies only if it is alleged that you caused a death while driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.³⁷

Gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated (PC 191.5(a)) is defined as the unlawful killing of someone else while driving intoxicated and with gross negligence.³⁸

Driving while “intoxicated” means driving either:³⁹

1. “Under the influence” as defined in Vehicle Code 23152(a);
2. With a BAC of .08 or greater under Vehicle Code 23152(b);
3. With a BAC of .05 or greater while under 21 years old; or
4. While “DUI of drugs” under Vehicle Code 23152(f).⁴⁰

Penal Code 191.5(b) PC vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated without gross negligence is a wobbler, punishable by up to one (1) year in county jail or a prison sentence of sixteen (16) months, two (2) years or three (3) years.⁴¹

But Penal Code 191.5(a) PC gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated is a felony, carrying a state prison sentence of four (4), six (6) or ten (10) years.⁴²

Penal Code 192(c) PC vehicular manslaughter is a “lesser included offense” of Penal Code 191.5 vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.⁴³ So if you are charged with vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, but the prosecutor cannot convince the jury that you were intoxicated beyond a reasonable doubt, you may be convicted of 192(c) PC instead.

DUI murder/Watson murder

The most egregious cases involving DUI-related deaths are prosecuted as murder rather than Penal Code 192(c) PC vehicular manslaughter.

Specifically, California prosecutors may charge you with DUI murder/”Watson” murder if you kill another person while driving under the influence, and both of the following are true:

1. You are a repeat DUI offender; and
2. You either have been educated about the dangers of DUI, or were given something known as a “Watson advisement” at the time of a prior DUI conviction.⁴⁴

A “Watson advisement” is a warning that it is extremely dangerous to human life to drive under the influence of drugs, and that killing someone while DUI can lead to murder charges.

Watson murder in California is prosecuted under Penal Code 187, California’s murder law.

Additional Resources

For more information, refer to the following:

• Data and Statistics – Car fatality statistics by the California Office of Traffic Safety.
• NHTSA Estimates for 2022 Show Roadway Fatalities Remain Flat After Two Years of Dramatic Increases – Analysis by National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).
• Accident Mortality by State – Provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• Car Accident Statistics for 2023 – Information compiled by Forbes.
• Fatal Car Crash Statistics 2023 – Information compiled by USA Today.

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